PS Now - 1 Month Membership for $1 to new subscribers - Ends 3/29 (NA only)

vivftp said:
Indeed, Now would need to further differentiate itself from Plus which is why I think the smart thing to do is roll Now into Plus and raise the price of Plus. Trying to build and maintain 2 separate sub services at 60 dollars a year each makes less sense to me than having one superior sub service at 99 dollars a year, for example.
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I've seen many people suggest that Sony combine PS Plus and PS Now, but I think that's a bad idea because many people who subscribe to just one service will see this as a price increase.

If Sony wants to offer a combined subscription (possibly with added perks) for slightly less than the price of buying both separately, then that would be fine. But they need to keep PS Plus and PS Now separate (for now), without forcing single-subscription owners into paying more for "benefits" that they don't want.
 
I checked out psnow the other day and it's just kinda whatever. Most of the cool games on it I've already gotten from ps+ or the new ps+ collection. I dunno nothing else seemed worth the usual price of like $8/month. A few times I was like oh sick shadow of the colossus or destroy all humans! But then it was just the ps3 version.
 
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Agent X said:
I've seen many people suggest that Sony combine PS Plus and PS Now, but I think that's a bad idea because many people who subscribe to just one service will see this as a price increase.

If Sony wants to offer a combined subscription (possibly with added perks) for slightly less than the price of buying both separately, then that would be fine. But they need to keep PS Plus and PS Now separate (for now), without forcing single-subscription owners into paying more for "benefits" that they don't want.
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Yeah, there are a lot of ways this could happen. I've also argued for a combined tier while keeping them separate in the past.

I now kinda view it like Amazon Prime. Some people might just sign up for the free shipping, but then you discover all the extras you're getting for your money. I think if they offered only the new tier at 99 dollars that most of the nearly 50 million current subscribers will stick around and will find increased value for the new price and quickly acclimate to it. They could even cross promotion with other services like anime streaming, or offer shows made by PlayStation Productions for streaming. Sony's a huge entertainment company, they could take this in multiple paths if they decided it was a good idea
 
So I decided to try it because, well, it's just $1 dollar. After trying the service for 24 hours I can say with total assurance that... I want my dollar back.
 
StreetsofBeige said:
All it takes is a gamer downloading the cheapest indie game for $5 and Sony is already losing money.

Bad for profits.
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You're thinking it wrong. This is a subscription service, they aren't selling anything. Or do you actually think they pay developers for every download like if they just sold a game? Obviously not.

It's more like spotify or netflix. You pay the developers for the right to have their game on your service, or you pay them for minutes the user spends playing their game, or maybe even a combination of both.

That's why it's so difficult to get games on the service, nobody wants to agree to those terms unless you pay them a real big amount.
 
Yselacrey00 said:
You're thinking it wrong. This is a subscription service, they aren't selling anything. Or do you actually think they pay developers for every download like if they just sold a game? Obviously not.

It's more like spotify or netflix. You pay the developers for the right to have their game on your service, or you pay them for minutes the user spends playing their game, or maybe even a combination of both.

That's why it's so difficult to get games on the service, nobody wants to agree to those terms unless you pay them a real big amount.
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Sure they're losing money.

Sony gets $1.

Sony and the developer loses money for every game they binge play without actually going out and buying it.
 
StreetsofBeige said:
Sure they're losing money.

Sony gets $1.

Sony and the developer loses money for every game they binge play without actually going out and buying it.
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Yeah, but this is no different than every other subscription service promotion. Spotty offers you 3 months for 0.99 each, netflix gives you a free month, amazon prime too and that's an actual real physical service. The point is to drive up subscribers with the hope that enough people will like the service and will keep their subscription. The problem is Sony doesn't have a good service, there's lag and they don't offer any AAA games, not even their own. So yeah, it's obvious why people aren't subscribing. It's not about a money problem, it is because the service is just not worth it.
 
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JSoup said:
And then they get $60 per person in a month when over half the people who signed up for the $1 version forgot to cancel/turn off autosub.
Like every other subscription service in the world.
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Yeah no, it doesn't cost 60 lmao. It costs 9.99 per month but is not worth it.
 
THEAP99 said:
I personally would not recommend subscribing even despite this $1 trial. It's meant to sucker you in and trap you into the payment plan.
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This is dumb and I hope you feel dumb for writing this...
Yselacrey00 said:
Yeah no, it doesn't cost 60 lmao. It costs 9.99 per month but is not worth it.
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www.playstation.com

PlayStation®Plus | Hundreds of games to download and play, PlayStation classics, game trials and more

Join PlayStation Plus on an Essential, Extra or Premium membership plan and get hundreds of PS4 and PS5 games, online multiplayer, classics catalog, exclusive discounts and more.
www.playstation.com www.playstation.com
Also $60 for year.
 
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PS Now rules for sure. I picked up a used PS4 Pro two years ago and ended up with so many games from that service. Played through both Spider-Man and God of War on it. It's damn good.
 
vivftp said:
I now kinda view it like Amazon Prime. Some people might just sign up for the free shipping, but then you discover all the extras you're getting for your money. I think if they offered only the new tier at 99 dollars that most of the nearly 50 million current subscribers will stick around and will find increased value for the new price and quickly acclimate to it. They could even cross promotion with other services like anime streaming, or offer shows made by PlayStation Productions for streaming. Sony's a huge entertainment company, they could take this in multiple paths if they decided it was a good idea
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Those are some good ideas, and the comparison to Amazon Prime is a good one.

I think that the combo of PS Plus and PS Now at $99 a year would be a great deal, but it might not appeal to someone who only bought PS Plus because he needed to "unlock" online play for a game or two that he plays occasionally with friends. That's why the separate services at lower prices still need to exist.

The combo would hook more people if there's some additional benefits that are noticeable and attractive. For example, people have asking for Sony to drop some new games on PS Now on day of release, which they often cite as a feather in Microsoft's cap for Xbox Game Pass. Well, Sony might not be inclined to do "Day One" releases for the low-priced "basic" PS Now, but perhaps subscribers who choose to pay more for the combo could get that added perk.
 
Yselacrey00 said:
Yeah, he said $60 per month which is completely wrong.
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he didn't actually, he said in a month as in when the free trial runs out

now he is operating off the belief that it would renew at the annual rate which is incorrect since it'll renew for $10 at the monthly rate (the description explicitly states this when you go to sign up for $1)
 
graywolf323 said:
he didn't actually, he said in a month as in when the free trial runs out

now he is operating off the belief that it would renew at the annual rate which is incorrect since it'll renew for $10 at the monthly rate (the description explicitly states this when you go to sign up for $1)
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Everyone knows its a monthly subscription. He said right there they were gonna charge 60 in a month. So I don't know what are you defending.
 
Yselacrey00 said:
Everyone knows its a monthly subscription. He said right there they were gonna charge 60 in a month. So I don't know what are you defending.
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It's monthly if you set it to monthly. if you check the auto-sub on your account after taking the $1 month deal, it's set for a full year renewal (provided the $1 sub is your first PSNow sub, otherwise it'll be set to whatever you last had it at). I'm looking at it on my own system right now and others across the internet have noted the same. So to answer your question, they are defending the fact that I'm not wrong and you didn't fact check before shooting your mouth off repeatedly.

Edit: And graywolf above is correct, it does say the renewal will be monthly in the text of the agreement, but it's been noted that it isn't what's actually happening.

Also, this has kind of jumped past the actual point I was making. Letting people who are likely to forget to turn off auto-sub and rake in lots of cash is worth taking a hit for one month.
 
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Kagey K said:
It's all old games worth a cup of coffee here or there.

Why would you subscribe? There aren't no 60.00games there.

Tell me the next 60.00 game you want to play on Now?
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Gamepass has a lot of older titles as well on the service. In fact, I'm sure older titles will dominate both of these services for the obvious reasons. The selection on PSNow from what I seen imo is easily on par with Gamepass with nice variety and it has downloadable PS4 games as well.
 
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Great deal. I wonder what they are actually planning with PSNOW. Jim Ryan mentioned that (positive?) changes are coming, so what could he mean? Ps1-ps3 BC through Now? day and date first party?
 
it's Great psnow has a begin of attention to make it grow :
  • market need the competition
  • consumer need the option with content not elsewhere
  • sony needs the stream revenue and user seduce by it
 
LisaMariaMartin said:
Great deal. I wonder what they are actually planning with PSNOW. Jim Ryan mentioned that (positive?) changes are coming, so what could he mean? Ps1-ps3 BC through Now? day and date first party?
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Honestly hope they don't but their bangers on Now on release day, it will result in the degradation of their quality. PS Now is fine as an extra to play something while you wait for those bangers.
 
Gods&Monsters said:
It's great that you have both options to stream or download. You can try multiple games quickly by streaming then you go in the menu and just click download if you like them. Very convenient.


I see it on the list. All the series seems to be there.
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Rhazer Fusion said:
I'm pretty sure I saw MS4 on there and I think it was downloadable, so it seems like they figured out how to make it possible lol.
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That's awesome its the one metal gear ive not played as I never bothered with ps3. Now I can finally play it and i still haven't spoiled it for myself!
 
Dynomite said:
Stupid me. I just started a 7 day trial. I don't think I can get in the $1 sub price. :-(
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You cant on your account. Just create a new one and add it to your console. You should be able to play PS4 games after download on your main account if you have both on the console and set as primary (or whatever it's called). Streamed games may be locked out on your main account though
 
I would love to tear down PSNOW and remake it entirely.

Stop putting garbage on there. Stop putting these indie games that have like 30 on metacritic.

Less games, more higher quality.
 
ShinraMiddleMananger said:
Can you stream it or is it still not on there and these people are wrong?
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You can definitely stream it. I played it a few months ago.

A couple of warnings with it:
  • It looks crap. The art design and everything is incredible and deserves better, but it'll output at the original 720p and the framerate dips often. Coming off the 4k MGS2 and 3 through the One X, this was a big step down. Might bother you less than it bothered me, but it's worth keeping in mind to set your expectations before jumping in.
  • I had one disconnect in the middle of a cutscene. That obviously means I missed half a cutscene, and it was one of the big ones. It was no problem for me, because I know the game like the back of my hand, but may be more frustrating for you.
  • Talking of long cutscenes, PS Now will try and boot you out of the server on the longer ones. It presumes you're not playing and will try and give the space to someone else. Have the controller next to you and move the analogue stick occasionally.
The only disappointment with the game itself is that it's locked in PS3 Prison. Even Rising is perfectly playable at a locked 1080p/60fps on Xbox Series X, but the gorgeous 4 is probably going to forever feel like a compromise.
 
johnjohn said:
The only thing that can make PS Now a more appealing service is consistently launching new games on the service, and that's currently what they're doing with PS+, at least to a certain extent. I really can't see them having two services compete with each other. Looking at MS, they're trying their best to make Xbox Live Gold less appealing and move people over to Game Pass.
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It's not the only thing they can do to make it more appealing. They could add all PS4 first party titles without a time limit. Up the streaming quality to 1080p and launch the service in more countries.

A PS Now marketing campaign headed by Ghost and LOU Part 2 coming to the service would do well.

Also they could add PS5 titles this year Demon Souls would be start.

I doudt Sony is going to go down the route of new games into PS Now, with the exception of maybe some Independent games.
 
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ShinraMiddleMananger said:
Thanks brah. Will probably skip if it runs poorly. Oh well one day i will play it.
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Just try it for yourself. Y Yselacrey00 's experience of poor streaming is not typical of most users I've seen comment on Gaf and Era. Not to mention my own personal experience and that of my friends who've used Now.

As long as your internet is fast enough and you're wired you should have a smooth experience. The resolution is currently limited to 720p but I was able to play an entire Ratchet and Clank game just fine with it and my brain forgot that I was streaming it quickly enough. If for some reason you do experience issues then search online for troubleshooting steps you can take.
 
Mmnow said:
You can definitely stream it. I played it a few months ago.

A couple of warnings with it:
  • It looks crap. The art design and everything is incredible and deserves better, but it'll output at the original 720p and the framerate dips often. Coming off the 4k MGS2 and 3 through the One X, this was a big step down. Might bother you less than it bothered me, but it's worth keeping in mind to set your expectations before jumping in.
  • I had one disconnect in the middle of a cutscene. That obviously means I missed half a cutscene, and it was one of the big ones. It was no problem for me, because I know the game like the back of my hand, but may be more frustrating for you.
  • Talking of long cutscenes, PS Now will try and boot you out of the server on the longer ones. It presumes you're not playing and will try and give the space to someone else. Have the controller next to you and move the analogue stick occasionally.
The only disappointment with the game itself is that it's locked in PS3 Prison. Even Rising is perfectly playable at a locked 1080p/60fps on Xbox Series X, but the gorgeous 4 is probably going to forever feel like a compromise.
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Thanks for the info. I'm balls deep in MH Rise so I'm going to wait for now.
 
Dynomite said:
Stupid me. I just started a 7 day trial. I don't think I can get in the $1 sub price. :-(
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Tommi84 said:
You cant on your account. Just create a new one and add it to your console. You should be able to play PS4 games after download on your main account if you have both on the console and set as primary (or whatever it's called). Streamed games may be locked out on your main account though
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Contact support and ask for the trial to be removed and you can take the $1 sub. Other people have done this and not been rejected, presumable because money vs. no money is an easy choice for them.
 
Sounds like Sony is getting a little spooked about gamespass gaining momentum but aren't in panic mode yet. I mean I don't know user friendly it is on the backend but maybe it can be hard to pivot. I'd be curious to know what the real ps now numbers are and what the retention rate is.
 
Dabaus said:
Sounds like Sony is getting a little spooked about gamespass gaining momentum but aren't in panic mode yet. I mean I don't know user friendly it is on the backend but maybe it can be hard to pivot. I'd be curious to know what the real ps now numbers are and what the retention rate is.
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lol, spooked! Sure thing there.

They have occasional sales on PS Now and even offer a free 1 time 7 day trial to everyone who wants to use it. This is just a 1 month trial to let people in one region try it out for a buck and is only available for a short period of time. How that translates into being spooked is beyond me.
 
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