What's stupefying about this comparison is that the purpose of these new online game distribution services, like PlayStation Now and EA Access, is to kneecap the used game market. If someone's going to make money off old games, the publishers and developers would like it to be them.

Which brings us to a simple rule to follow when it comes to the video game business: If your strategy treats the consumer worse than GameStop, get a new strategy.

This is a tremendous opportunity for Sony and the publishers and developers smart enough to partner in the venture. Back in the day, companies would have needed to print more copies of a game, ship those copies, re-promote and shelve them. Today, Sony will put them in an online store. The margins will be higher. The prices shouldn't be. We know the days of owning games are nearly over, but an over-priced digital rental program is just rubbing our faces in it.

Read more here.http://www.polygon.com/2014/7/31/5955235/playstation-now-sony-subscription

I'm pretty sure Sony will make this a subscription service.

I think they will have cool sales on the PSNOW and that is the reason they are chraging these absurd prices, to make the sales look cooler =D

It'll probably be a subscription later with some restrictions. It is still in beta and there's a lot of room to improve.

A well written article. I wonder how much of the negativity surrounding the pricing stems from Sony's stupid reply about EA Access and it not "being a value" for their consumers.

$4.99 today with EA Access gets me:

Unlimited FIFA 14 play time for a month (Gamestop has the game for $50 new, $45 used)
Unlimited Madden 25 play time for a month (GS $30 new, $28 used)
Unlimited BF4 play time for a month (GS $50 new, $45 used)
Unlimited Peggle 2 play time for a month ($12 on XBL)
10% off digital purchases of any EA game/DLC
Play Madden 15 five days early

$4.99 today on PS Now gets me:

4 hours of play time with Port Royale 3: Pirates and Merchants

Clearly one has value and the other does not. I hope people understand why Sony is getting so much shit for these terrible prices and why Sony will change them.

They really need to make it like gamefly to make it a success imo... $25 per month and u get to play 1-3 games of ur choice! And when ur done, whether it be in a day or in 2 weeks, u return it (or in this case, disable it) and get a different game to play! If they did something like that, I think it will be a success

Like it or not, the gaming industry still needs to make money in order to survive. They aren't doing this to LOSE money. I know a lot of people don't like that fact but it's true. That means this has to be balanced in a way that it doesn't kill new game sales in terms of value. The way the rental business has always survived is that it offers a lower short-term cost with a lower long-term value. It's a balancing act designed so that one segment of the industry does not kill the other.

I'm really not sure what people are expecting here. That they destroy new game sales in order to compete with used game sales? Sorry, but used games sales are not what they are competing with because they CANNOT compete with used game sales. If they tried, the industry would collapse. You can't beat something that has already been paid for once and has no fixed overhead. The balance has to be struck between renting and new game sales.

Why people expect publishers and developers to throw money honestly puzzles the hell out of me.

Renting is an option that should not necessarily be superior to buying a game new. It should be close, one way or the other, but not clearly a better value across the board.

It is in beta though. They have already stated they are looking into making it a subscription service. As of now the EA service looks a lot better than PSNow does. I would get it if it had different games since I already own Madden 25, BF4, and Peggle. I don't really care much for FIFA or paying $5 for early access so for me it depends on what games they put up on the service at a later time.

I already own all those games besides FIFA so idc much for EA Access right now either but at least it should be an option imho.

Port Royale is pretty awesome. =D