Over the past year, PlayStation has definitely upped its game in terms of free game offerings. Between the rotating monthly free PS Plus games, the PS Plus Collection for PlayStation 5 owners, and the Play At Home initiatives, Sony has garnered plenty of goodwill from its fans looking for free high-quality games. One service PlayStation offers that often falls to the wayside in conversations about great game offers is PS Now, Sony's cloud-based gaming subscription service.
For some reason, Sony itself doesn't seem to be particularly invested in PS Now despite constantly pouring new games into it. Despite the remarkable deal of the service, there's rarely any advertising devoted to it. Instead, that space usually goes to PS Plus' free monthly games or other PlayStation offerings. It seems like the company is struggling to see the potential of how great the many services of PS Now already are and that, with a little bit of work, it could surpass the popularity of all Sony's other services including PS Plus.
The Sheer Volume of PS Now's Offering
If it were to be equated to anything else in the industry, PS Now is essentially the PlayStation version of Xbox Game Pass, kind of. PS Now offers hundreds of quality titles that players can access in an instant because, unlike with Game Pass, the games are streamed rather than individually downloaded on the subscribers' console. While it's hard to nail down specifically how many games are on PS Now because there are constant changes in what's available, the number of games is well over 700 according to Sony. That number completely blows the number of games available on Game Pass out of the water.
With that many games being offered, it's weird that PS Now hardly ever comes up when talking about the pros and cons of buying a Sony console. Costing only $9.99 per month or $44.99 for an entire year, the actual price of the service is completely overshadowed by how good of a deal it is. The prices are the same for PS Plus which offers three to four free monthly games and allows subscribers to play games online.
Fixing PlayStation's Backwards Compatibility Problem
With the release of the PS5, Sony said that the company "believes in generations." Unfortunately, backwards compatibility is a huge hurdle for the PS5, as it doesn't allow any sort of backwards compatible play for any games not released on the PS4. This decision is directly contrasted with Microsoft's Xbox Series X which allows owners to put select Xbox discs from any generation into their console and play it. PS Now is the solution Sony is looking for to fix this lack of cross-generational play, they just need to market it more.
PS Now offers titles originally on PS2, PS3, PS4, and even newer releases on the PS5. Anyone looking to get a taste of years past by revisiting PlayStation classics like Sly Cooper, inFAMOUS, or the God of War series can do just that with a subscription. Criticism of Sony's lack of backwards compatibility options are frequently made by PlayStation fans, and it would be in Sony's best interest to point those unhappy with the PS5 to PS Now. The library is full of older titles and not just the most popular games of generations past, it includes deeper cuts for those looking for a more specific, non-mainstream experience.
PS Now's Biggest Issue
While PS Now has plenty of good parts to it, one glaring issue is its existence as a mainly streaming-based service. Some games are downloadable from PS Now directly onto a PlayStation 4/5's hard drive/SSD, but many games still don't have that option and need to be streamed. This is a problem for anyone without high-speed internet, rendering plenty of games unplayable. When internet speed slows for streamed games, input delay and lag become huge obstacles in the way of an enjoyable experience. Even those who have reliable internet might experience outages from time to time which means absolutely no streaming while the internet is down.
Having a service so dependent on internet speed brings the entire thing down, as subscribers never know what to expect when sitting down for a gaming session on lower internet speeds. This problem is a strong deterrent for those wanting a consistent experience that works the same every time.
How Can PS Now Grow Bigger than PS Plus?
As stated above, changing the marketing for PS Now would do so much good for the service. Plenty of PlayStation owners might not even know that it exists or if they do, might not know exactly if it's worth it. Changing its marketing to be something close to "Game Pass for PlayStation" would help potential subscribers understand what it is instantly and inquire more. It could also use some more time in the spotlight during the various showcases that Sony hosts for PlayStation products throughout the year and on PlayStation consoles' home pages.
Deciding the service's direction in terms of streaming vs. downloading might also incentivize PlayStation owners to dip in as well. As it currently stands, streaming games on PS Now using a potentially unreliable internet connection just isn't very feasible. If Sony can lock in more games for direct download, the company might be able to convince fans that PS Now offers a more consistent experience across the board for those with shaky connections.
Merging PS Plus and PS Now
One other way that PS Plus could see a drastic increase in users is to merge it with PS Plus. While extremely unlikely, this would be a game-changing move by Sony that would cause a huge spike in interest. By making PS Now free to PS Plus subscribers, the more than 45 million subscribers would have access to the service and most likely give it a try.
The problem with this strategy is that it wouldn't make Sony any money through a subscription fee unless the company raised the price which might cause an outcry from the PlayStation community. On the other hand, it's reported that only 2 million PlayStation owners are subscribed to PS Now pailing in comparison to PS Plus numbers. It's unlikely that a merger between the two services would come, but it might be worth Sony's consideration if they're still looking for ways to increase PS Now activity.