Over the past few days I've been dabbling in PS Now, having ignored it for years, and I must say I am genuinely impressed.

In many ways its exactly what I want from a cloud gaming service.

* Picture quality is relatively good and doesn't rape my bandwidth.
* 60 fps games feel surprisingly good, not detecting significant judder. (PC and console performance was better with wired connection)
* Latency is less than I expected and fine for most experiences.
* It uses cloud save data which is good for continuing experiences away from a console.
* I am trying games simply because I can do so without downloading.

Before jumping into software options, those are features I want from cloud gaming and PS Now does it all well.

In regard to what's available on PS Now, it's not bad selection for core gamers. I mean if your thing is trying critically acclaimed games and not just the popular stuff, it's pretty good for that. Primarily in the PS3 library, but there is also a significant amount of PS4 content on the service now.

Given this is a Sony service, you would think this is a great way to experience some Sony games! To a degree, it absolutely is.

The problem is Sony seems to be struggling with the idea that PS Now could hurt the Playstation brand or something. Playstation Now? More Like Playstation Now Hold On A Sec!

I was surprised to see the service had Horizon Zero Dawn, that gave me the impression Sony really wants people to use this service. But as I started exploring the library I was surprised to see Sony is actually being quite stingy with the PS4 releases. The list of PS4 exclusives is really just Horizon, Uncharted Lost Legacy, Bloodborne, Until Dawn, Killzone:SF and... Knack!

For fuck's sake, what's the goal here? Sony is running a service but fears giving it notable content like the four year old Uncharted 4. Would it really hurt PS4 if they added 1886, Tearaway, Driveclub, Gravity Rush 2, Last Guardian, Knack 2 (killer app), Nioh, along with numerous digital only games. Those games aren't gold per se, but would still be good additions that wouldn't difficult for Sony to do. If they really want to boost subscriptions, then maybe add games that are (or nearing) a few years old and have achieved much of their potential sales like God of War and Spiderman. Why even add Horizon Zero Dawn? Do they actually care if this service thrives?

Also, I was curious why I couldn't find GTAV, I recall it being on the service. Turns out they only had a 3 month deal on an old game. Gimmicks like that shouldn't be used to push the service. Especially when Sony has notable content of their own that could push PS Now.

I am in the middle of the trial, but I may subscribe ($60 for a year) just so I can dabble in various games quickly when I am bored. There is PS4 content I want to try in the same way I use Gamepass and I can download them. There is PS3 content I want to play without looking for my PS3. I can tolerate $60, that's about what its worth.

So as I use PS Now, I can't help but think... "Boy, this would great if Sony really allowed it to be." Its like they want it to exist but also stay out of the way.

EDIT: Much like BC on Xbox, it would be great if Sony made deals with publishers so we could play our digital PS1/PS2/PS3 games on PS Now. For example, Call of Duty games aren't on PS Now, but maybe an easy solution is letting us use digital games we own on PS Now, if approved by the publisher. Doing this might stimulate digital sales of old games for publishers and Sony would make money from that. However, doing that would actually be work...

You want everything for a cheap one off price. I would rather Sony keep their current approach.

Actually, I'd pay more if they made a better effort.

I'm confused by what the goal is though. Do they want to turn PS Now into a Netflix/Gamepass type of service? If so, I think the PC support becomes an issue. Given Sony clearly doesn't want PC users accessing much 1st party content.

If anything PS Now should just be for PS1/PS2/PS3 games and focus on making that library as robust as possible. And again, let people access PS1/PS2/PS3 games they own digitally if publishers approve. Much like how BC on Xbox works.

While PS4 and PS5 should get a Gamepass service for maybe $60 a year and maybe it would have 100-200 games, but without day one launch games.

Instead Sony is lumping this together and its a mess.

PSNow is a growing service, it will only benefit from Azure Cloud. Give it time and Sony will patch it up to compete with the best of services when it comes to quality. However currently they want to sell as many PS4s as possible. Next gen will see more improvements and a different approach, hopefully.

Based on how publishers are treating GeForce, there will never be a netflix of gaming. They would rather have their own services than allow that to happen. PSNow would mainly be for Sony 1st party IPs as licensing expires and other services kick off. However their IPs do hold enough weight to give the service value.

The thing is, it is still most profitable to maximize individual sales outside of the service. They are just doing what works right now. Some newer games do get added for limited time to help boost the service, but it is not their main business goal like it is for MS.

If streaming does every take off however (which is questionable due to publishers themselves, thank god), the infrastructure is there and they can easily adapt. There is just no reason to put a major focus on it yet. I do feel that as the PS5 drops, you will see a lot more 1st party PS4 games pop up. It may not be their primary business goal, but they will do what they can to keep it alive and develop it for if they ever need to lean on it.

Considering how much the games Sony publishes are selling even year after release and how PS4 is still selling compared to the number of subs on PSNow I would say their focus right now is to not impact the sales of HW and SW while on PSNow they work on the service and quality itself because adding content would be the "easier" part after that either by putting their full backlog of 1st party or signing deals. But that would make sense after the service is mature enough to be a money bringer instead of impacting what is currently bringing major money (PS+, PS4 sold at good profit, and 1st party record breaking sales... gamepass type service would create a big impact on it).

Ka-pi96 said: PS Now could be an awesome service if it were Xbox Game Pass Seriously though, the option to download full games (and thus be able to play them offline) rather than just streaming them would make it a much better service. It still wouldn't be for me since I prefer permanent ownership rather than rentals, but it would certainly make it a lot more appealing than it currently is. I believe Amazon Prime offer the option to dowload their content rather than just stream it, so why not do the same?

On PS4 you can download the PS4 games on PSNow. If they had full BC then you probably would be able to do for PS3 games as well.

Game streaming? No thanks.

Probably would need same internet as for PSN games when it isn't your primary account, to check license validity. Perhaps a check per day or it will disable the content when the time of rental expire. Haven't tested because PSNow isn't available in Brazil, but the ability to download were mentioned in the forum couple times with source.

I think you need to connect once in 24h to verify your licence

btw many PS2 games on the service are downloadable to play on a PS4 aswell