PlayStation Now Open Beta – Our Journey Begins

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PlayStation Now Open Beta – Our Journey Begins

As we announced back at CES, PlayStation Now (PS Now) is the first-ever game streaming service available on a game console, where you can quickly access a rich and expanding library of PlayStation 3 (PS3) games from our cloud servers. Since January, PS Now has been in Private Beta for select gamers across the country, and I’m happy to announce that the Open Beta will be available to all PlayStation 4 (PS4) owners in the U.S. and Canada starting tomorrow.

As part of this Open Beta, PS4 users will see PS Now titles fully integrated into PlayStation Store, available to be streamed for various rental durations. Check out the video walkthrough of how it all works:

During the PS Now Open Beta, PS4 users will see a diverse library of more than 100 titles to rent, with more added regularly. PS Now will offer a variety of rental periods depending on the game, including 7-days, 30-days or 90-days, as well as a short 4-hour duration, so players can sample the experience first.

With a strong and stable broadband connection, visual and gameplay quality will be much like what you’re used to with other PS3 games. PS Now will also feature cloud game saves, as well as support for other popular network features such as Trophies, friend lists and leaderboards. You can also play seamlessly online with other people on PS Now, or even players who have the downloadable or disc based version of the game. As you know, the PS3 catalog of games is massive and incredibly diverse, and we’re thrilled to make these epic experiences available to PS4 first, followed by our other PlayStation platforms in the coming months.

Since we’re still in Beta, and in the very early days of PS Now, we plan to continue to collect feedback during this Open Beta phase to make further refinements to the service, so please provide us feedback once you’ve experienced the service.

We want to thank those that have been participating in the PS Now Private Beta for their time, dedication and valuable feedback, which have helped us continue to shape the service.

You will immediately see a clear breakdown of what’s included with game rentals, so it’s easier to tell what content you’re getting with your rental, especially since several games offered through PS Now include DLC that increase the value of the offering. Also, in a few weeks, you will start seeing reduced pricing on some 4-hour rentals which will appear at $1.99.

In addition, we’ve heard you loud and clear for an update on a PS Now subscription option and want to reassure you that we are working on it. We think PS Now represents the next step toward the future of gaming and we’re excited to have the PlayStation Nation come along with us on the beginning of this journey.

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  • Well I tried streaming Dynasty Warriors 7 and I could never start the game and I have a great connection speed. I like the concept but I’d much rather it be a subscription. Now I have to contact customer support to get my money back. Lame.

  • hmm i don’t know, It would be easier and better if you just offer emulator that can play all PS1, PS2, and PS3 games without problems. I for one think its possible to run PS3 games on PS4 just using emulator only either its Disc or download. You just need Jack of All Trades Software Programs who understands Cell and can make it run by emulating whole thing. Same thing for PS1 and PS2, emulating them on the PS4 is so easy but the PS3 will be challenge that is worth it.

  • EA Access $5 for a month which includes 4 games currently (they’re in Beta too). PS Now $4 for 4 hours.

  • The pricing structure on this makes no sense at all. It is beyond terrible. First get rid of 4 hour rentals and make them 24 hour, 4 hours is just ridiculous. Generic games 99 cents per day, premium titles 1.99 a day. Generic weekly rentals 4.99, premium 6.99. 30 day rentals generics 14.99 premium 24.99 and have all rental fees be applicable towards final purchase price

  • Let’s go over where you failed:
    1. Pricing
    The current pricing favors the weekly rental as anything more you might as well buy the game and anything less just go to redbox or just not play. Maybe it was just failed research. Example Saints Row III 90 day = Best Buy price (the SAME game).

  • 2. Subscription
    The ease of not having to worry about setting a schedule to play a rented game is paramount. I get home from work then alot myself 2 hours hopefully achieving whatever percentage of gameplay needed to beat the game by the end of the week. Now you have made this a second job. How am I supposed to do that side quest now? I might as well buy the game or just not play it.

  • 3. Can’t download extra content
    What were you thinking? You are telling me that the mighty Sony could not design a server of games that could take advantage of people wanting the extra goodies? EA was able to design this cloud environment but you can’t? Why not lower the prices and remove extra content but allow the user to download them so you can make even more profit.

  • 4. Rental times
    I understand the convenience of a “hey I have a few hours why not try this game.” But to make the difference between a 4 hour and 7 day rental $2 completely makes the 4-hour a bad choice. 4-Hour rentals should be no more than a dollar. Then sure $7 for 7 days (See #5).

  • 5. Game Selection
    The way your strategy is designed the only games worthy of paying this much would be the new releases. You’re pricing scheme would be perfect for the upcoming Assassins Creed (again Redbox still wins in the short rental pricing). Most people will pay the 1-week price, get hooked, then buy again for the same or longer.

  • Thanks for letting me know about $5/m for 4 EA games… sounds way more interesting.

  • Overall:
    I just don’t understand what makes this service as it is feasible to you. The only advantage is to play that old game that was awesome and isn’t available in stores anymore or the new game I want to try. If the average person is like me I have my PS4 and my PS3 hooked up. The convinience of not having to turn on the other system to me isn’t worth the price.

    Are developers giving you a hard time?
    Are your expectations higher than they should be? (Not all of us will be dieing to play that old game)
    Is the high cost an indication of a failed profit strategy? (what if you don’t get as many renters as expected will you raise prices even higher or just end the service)

    I can’t believe I wasted an adderall on this.

  • @pablofsi08

    EA was going to do the same thing with the PS4 but Sony shot them down.

    “PlayStation Plus memberships are up more than 200 percent since the launch of PlayStation 4, which shows that gamers are looking for memberships that offer a multitude of services, across various devices, for one low price. We don’t think asking our fans to pay an additional $5 a month for this EA-specific program represents good value to the PlayStation gamer.”

    At the time I read this I was really excited about how PS Now was going to be priced to make it a better value. Obviously I’m disappointed.

  • I feel like this is a big **** you to almost every PS owner who doesn’t live in a big city since it’s really hard to get internet speeds in the MBs per second.

  • So I’ve noticed a couple things while using Playstation Now.
    1/ Occasional screen tearing
    2/ Some features that aren’t going to be featured need to be laid out in the description before you rent it. For example, Sniper V2 doesn’t have access to multiplayer because when the game came out, that was an add-on. I know it says no add-ons are allowed but most players probably don’t understand that that mode wouldn’t be offered. So more clarity.
    3/ Definitely want a subscription plan

  • I have Playstation TV pre ordered and am excited to rent games.

    It would be much better if you let people rent games, all games for a lower price, say $.99. Give them two hours if it would make you feel better.

    The price difference. I see prices everywhere. You should make one solid price. Find a middle ground.

    I would much rather pay monthly, even more so yearly, for this service. Say I pay $24.99 to rent a game for 90 days and I beat the game in 20 days. I am going to feel ripped off. But, if I were paying a monthly or yearly fee, it really would not matter how long it took me to finish a game, because I would be paying for more than that one game. Perhaps Playstation Plus members could get it at a lower price. Offering that would surely push those who are not members, to become them.

    I am getting the Playstation TV thing so I can play a lot of old games that I did not have the money for as a kid. I would feel a lot better if I had the option to buy the games. You should have a set price for buying and renting. Things would just feel better.

  • Tried it today, and works better than I was expecting it to, can’t wait to play through more of catherine(it’s my first time playing through it). Can’t wait to hear more about a subscription model, or even better, the option to buy games outright so I can stream whenever I want. Because paying 12 bucks for blazblue for 90 days, dosent make sense to me if I can find the game for like 20 bucks and have it forever. Just my 2 cents, keep up the good work Sony!

  • How much data does this consume? I use UVerse and have a 250 GB monthly cap. It wouldn’t make sense for me if I couldn’t use it very much because of that.

  • The only way this won’t fail is if it’s like Netflix. 10 bucks a month for a large selection of games. If not then every game should be 99 cents a day maybe slightly more for newer releases.

  • When can I buy wipEout HD ? That’s All I need to know.

  • To all at Sony

    I’m a UK Resident & understand as yet PS Now isn’t as yet available in my country, even in beta form (even though it’s rumoured we could be the first European country to get the service).

    That said I’ve been following what’s been going on closely is there any chance we could see PS Now become an add on (of sorts) to PS+ In terms of subscription management instead of a seperate subscription as to not confuse the average consumer & cluster f having two seperate subscriptions (for like 5-10 GBP on top of PS+).

    As others have said cost is too high & there needs too be a better open communication between publishers and yourselves so that ALL PS Now titles are priced the same I mean 50 USD is around 25 GBP ( what’s up w/ that) anything from 99p-£8 when the service reaches the UK would be fine with me w/ the option of purchasing the game outright.

    This would also be a good advantage if you (as I’ve been hearing) plan to add PS4 Titles to the service down the road

    Also I’d like to see all PS Devices have PS Now enabled when it gets out of beta & is launched in the UK DAY ONE!

    Thank you for reading & thank you for your time

    Happy Gaming too all

  • FEEDBACK: I’ve tried three GAMES on Playstation NOW I have HIGH SPEED WIRED Broadband! The Games start to Play ok, Then after awhile the GAME screen FREEZES! I have tried three Different games and everytime after i start the Game the screen FREEZES! I have to go over and push the POWER button till the PS3 shuts OFF just to get out of this FREEZE! And we know FREEZES like this is not good on our PS3’s to begin with.

    I have no idea why these games all FREEZE after i start playing them. Since i know i have very high internet i know that is not the problem…

    So after trying three Different GAMEs now and all three FROZE on me while playing them… I’m not gonna keep using this Service when all the GAMES on it FREEZE on me and no button i press afterwards will undo the FREEZE! Only a HARD power Button turn OFF will get out of the FREEZE! NOT GOOD!

    So at this point until SONY gets this Problem FIXED on their End… I won’t be playing anything ever again on Playstation NOW unless they get that PROBLEM FIXED first!

    That’s my FEEDBACK on Playstation NOW!

    By: DCS

  • Now onto more Important Matters: WHEN will the Playstation TV be released? I know it’ll be fall 2014… But has a Exact release DATE been set yet?

    I hope it’s like Sept…. not any later…. So i can plan to buy one then. Don’t make us wait till Dec by then it’s too late to get one.

    PLAYSTATION TV release Soon PLEASE! Also make Mortal Kombat on Vita be able to RUN on Playstation TV Please? I so want that game but only if i can play it on Playstation TV!

    They tried this game with the Japan Vita TV and Mortal Kombat from Vita didn’t play on the PS Vita TV version! But they don’t have that Mortal Kombat game for vita even in JAPAN so most think it’s not working due to JAPAN not having that game… So i just hope when Playstation TV hits USA that Mortal Kombat for Vita will run on the US Playstation TV… If not please get this fixed ASAP so it does please…

    Thanks!
    By: DCS

  • I thought this would have been a neat idea. Be able to play games I bought off the PSN for PS, PS2 and PS3 on my PS4.

    Doesn’t work that way, though.

    On the PS3 the games I own come up as “Playable” so I go to stream one instead of downloading it on my HD again only to be told to select a rental duration from $3-$15. Using one game as an example.

    These games don’t come up as “Playable” or anything via the PS4 version through the same account.

    Pretty disappointing.

    This is almost as bad as the US PSN’s decision to not offer any sort of discount whatsoever to PSP owners buying the games they own on UMD to play on their VITAs.

  • Playstation Now has awesome potential. Streaming would be the best way to play. No disk, no large data files on your console. But they had to go ruin a good thing. First off the four hour rental and 90 day rental is completely useless. Who plays a game for 4 hours? That’s not enough time to do anything. 90 days? You can buy most of these old games for the price they are asking! Most of the games you choose only give you those two options. This is clompley ruins the entire thing. There should be two rental options. Weekly or Monthly with the option of buying the game straight from the store. Come on Sony! You can do better !

  • I can only hope Sony is taking the pricing criticism seriously. Sony may be just testing the viability of the service and its pricing model right now, but what they’re really doing is damaging the good consumer relationship they worked so hard during this generation to build. All the goodwill they showed their consumer base by building PS+, by bringing next gen at a lower price, by listening to the playerbase when developing the PS4… all of that has now been jeopardized by the negative connotation of Playstation Now’s pricing structure.

    I’ve been excited for years about the notion of a streaming game service as I imagined only Playstation could provide, but now I have no intention of even participating in the beta or paying these prices. At this point, I’m not even hopeful of a corrected subscription model; the damage has been done with the ridiculous rental prices and the window to undo the damage is closing quickly.

    The bold, indiscriminate pricing model with which Sony chose to launch open beta reminds me of the mentality Microsoft and Apple march around with, “We have your business; you’ll pay the prices we say.”

    Get wise quick, Sony…

  • “Playstation Now has awesome potential. Streaming would be the best way to play. No disk, no large data files on your console. But they had to go ruin a good thing.”

    Except I don’t want a single additional input delay frame added onto my controls, which already have 1-2 input delay frames, not counting internet latency, even.

  • When will we be getting NCAA 2014 Football on PSNow?

  • Curious, when does PS Now update? Really wanting to replay the Uncharted series, so I hope the series is added soon.

  • Is this service just available in the Continental US? Or does it also extend to Hawaii? Hmm …

  • Between these prices and the prices for the PS Vita Memory Cards, it’s like you guys want to fail. I need a new Vita card but man, gold is cheaper.

  • You’ll need to have a monthly rental service. PS2 games. PS4 games as rental.

  • Broaden PS Now to other 1080p HD TV beyond the 4k TVs.

  • As far as the pricing goes for the 4 hour one. Change it to 4 days and then it makes sense.
    4 hours should be free for PS+ members. PS+ had 1 hour trials on the PS3, it would be best if that 1 hour free option would be intergrated inside PS Now rather than waiting hours for it to download.

  • Was really excited for ps now until i saw everything was horribly overpriced

  • PSNOW is a fantastic idea, that seems really poorly thoughtout… if you want me to pay the same price to rent a game that I would have paid blockbuster back when they existed (about $6 for a week) you should put up brand new games that actually cost $60 to own… but frankly, this is a extremely backlist of OLD, and simply B games… start putting up the uncharted series, grand turismo’s and last of us…. and maybe I’d pay $6 to rent one… but I mean think about it, how many blockbusters do you see left? and they actually offered me somewhat new games…

  • your only other competition is gamely… and well its just a way better deal… I would pay $9 a month for a catalog of OLD games like this at my disposal… but there’s no way in hell I’ll spend $9 this month al la carte cause there’s just nothing i really want to play on here enough for me to even open my wallet.. but if it was a subscription and it was just at my disposal for all of it, $9 doesn’t sound so horrible…

    MY REAL QUESTION: does anyone know if there is a formal way to provide feedback to playstation.. I absolutely hate that both PS and Destiny have given me beta’s in the last month with the intention of “gathering feedback from fans” but have nowhere on their websites to provide feedback.. I always end up on some forum page which seems informal and dumb for a company thats asking for my feedback…

  • also, i don’t see why I’d rent guacamele for the same price as buying it right here in your same store…. I think I paid $18 for deus ex at gamestop a couple years ago, I resold it 5 months later for $9… why would I pay you $30 to rent it?

  • TBO, this was supposed to start on the ps3 not the ps4.. That was what was said at the e3 event last year…
    So what happened to that?!? because i like many others are not purchasing a ps4 due to the fact that the ps4 is nothing more than a ps3.1/3 console because it has less features than the ps3 which would make it a ps2, but since it has more power and graphics plus memory i give it the rating i did.

    So as i asked what happened to it being on the ps3 first?
    thanks

  • It’s amazing how the company that got PS+ so right has gotten PS Now so wrong. As has been pointed out, the cost of a 90 day rental is higher than many of these games can be purchased for at this point. With PS+, I get 72 games a year for $50. Even if I only had one system, it would be 24 games a year. I do understand the value of being able to choose the specific game that I want, but not at these prices. And these prices pale in comparison to the cost of EA Access, which Sony deemed a bad value. I will continue using and enjoying PS, but I will happily sign up for EA Access on my XBOX 1 rather than pay for any of these games on PS Now.

  • Sony, let me give you some examples of HOW EXTREME OVERPRICED PS NOW IS:

    EB GAMES NEW Disc Price: Deus Ex Human Revolution: Director’s Cut = 19.99$ PS NOW 3 months = 29.99$, Final Fantasy 13-2 = 19.99$ – PS NOW 3 months = 29.99$, Darksiders 2 = 19.99$ – PS NOW 3 months = 29.99$, Download game: Rocket Knight = 14.99$ – PS NOW 3 months = 11.99$, Resident Evil Code Veronica X = 19.99$ – PS NOW 3 months = 14.99$

    And your 7 days service is EXACTLY like renting a disc at old Blockbuster or something similar.

    I find it a very simple way to give you feedback on PS Now. PS + is great!!! PS now is taking there clients FOR COMPLETE STUPID MORONS!!!!!!!!!!! Surely not the same teams working on those 2 services.
    PS NOW WILL CRASH AND BE A VERY BIG LOSS OF MONEY FOR SONY!

    I ALWAYS PLAY PS3 AND PS4, but hate Sony taking us for stupid people not watching for there money!

    Thank you for your FULL DISRESPECT of us with this new service everyone as been waiting for a long time…

  • Pricing is way of. 4 hours should be at the most 1.99. But why isn’t there a 12 or 24 hour option? For 2.99 or 3.99 12-24 hours feels right. And 7.99 and up feels right for 7 day rentals.

    For the selection right now that’s what feels right to me. If these were games just released then you can charge more at the current pricing. But for these old games 1 to 2 dollars feels right for a play session.

  • I like the idea of streaming older games that I have yet to try. It’s kind of similar to the Onlive streaming service. I have paid for the 4 hour rental and have yet to test it. I already see a few problems with it. There is no subscription service included in it. Maybe have an option for ps plus member to include serveral games at once with a subscription plan. So users will be able to try more than 1 game at time. Have a montly re occuring rental system so that way your not limited to just the 90 days. Most older games you can get same price or cheaper used. As of right I have an online rental service that I pay yearly and can play most of the games on the service for an unlimted amount of time, similar to gamefly’s service. I think with a subscription service in place it will be more valuable for customers.

  • What about the ps3 games purchased using the playstation network? Hundreds of dollars gone, because when you buy a ps4 you trade in or sell the ps3 with hopes of your digital library still being ready to use on the ps4.
    Until I get my ps3 library of games to work on the ps4 I will not spend any money on downloads from the playstation store.

  • This pricing structure is what is gonna alienate me from this service. I can’t see myself spending more then $0.99 for 12hrs or less.

  • Hey Sony! I sold my ps3 for a ps4 and come to find that you won’t let us play ps3 or psn games we already purchased, and there’s quite a list on my part, but you allow us to steam the very games we own already at an extra cost? Bad business sony. Makes me wanna buy used disks from gamestop. Fix this please or I’ll be forced to protect my future gaming experience by avoiding the ps store all together.

  • I can’t say it any better than the Forbes article I read so I’ll just quote the paragraph from them.

    “PS Now needs two rental time periods. Weekly and Monthly. A fixed price between $5-7 for the former, and $8-15 for the latter. And on the very end? An option to simply purchase and download the game outright via PSN, if it’s for sale in the store. I’m amazed this option doesn’t exist now.”

    I agree 100% a 4 day and a one week rental period for those prices are outrageous, it simply doesn’t make any sense to rent say a PS3 game for a week when it’ll take me three months to get through the content because I have a life and don’t play every single day for hours on end.

    If the PS Now business model doesn’t change to something acceptable, it’s just easier (For me anyway) to go out and buy a cheap PS3 from eBay with all the games I want to play and save a ton of cash in the long term.

    Just my opinion but I won’t be putting my money into PS Now as it currently stands.

  • I think the service has some potential. However I think publishers are kidding themselves if they think their games are still worth that after a few yrs of being in circulation. They really need to consider more price-tuning. I don’t think I’ll use the service much till a subscription model is introduced like netflix or amazon prime.

    Some feedback:

    For the love of god Sony get rid of the 4 hr rental feature. Replace 4 hr feature with 48-72 hr rental at about $2.99 is more fair for newer games. I’d say your 7 day price is reasonable.

  • @anyone who did this? Why oh why did ya sell off ur PS3? Was it Broken? If not never i repeat never sell off ur old consoles… That’s just crazy… I did this once in the past myself but for a good reason! I had an Original PS1 back then. Later on I got the Phat PS2 so i did later sell the PS1. But that was only because the PS2 also plays PS1 games so why would i keep the PS1 since the PS2 plays both of those games…

    That was a smart choice to do so just because of that. But when the PHAT PS3’s came out that also played both PS1 and PS2 games i didn’t sell off my PHAT PS2 and it was a good thing i kept it… One i never used it for PS1 or PS2 games anyway since i have a phat PS2 no need to. not even four years later that Phat PS3 died… So i was very smart to keep the PS2 then!

    I don’t yet have a PS4 but even if i were to get a PS4 i surely won’t sell off my PS3 just because i then got a PS4 that’s just crazy.

    Far as PS NOW since it’s only a rental service i really have no use for PS NOW due to that. Now if we could play games we bought for PS3 on the PS4 for FREE since we already bought and paid for the game that would be ok then. But Rentals…. NO thanks!

  • Just tried PS Now. I like it but the pricing structure is terrible. I would ultimately love to see a Netflix style subscription with a low monthly fee for unlimited gaming but if you are going to stick to the individual rentals then it should be based on gameplay hours and not time hours. If you spend 5 dollars to rent a game for four hours then it should be a full 4 hours of game play and not 4 hours of time.

  • Playstation Now isn’t shaping up to being what I thought it’d be when originally announced at E3. For starters, need the PS2/PS1 games. Also, those prices are WAY TOO HIGH! Good grief. I rather just wait for you to offer the games for download instead at this point.

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