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Playstation Now Dominates Subscription Gaming

GribbleGrunger

Dreams in Digital
There had to be a reason Sony kept supporting it:

superdatastreamingq318-r471x.png


"PlayStation Now is, perhaps unsurprisingly, the dominant service by some margin, generate 52 per cent of venue. This is likely due to the sheer install base of the PlayStation 4, which stands at over 86m units sold since its November 2013 launch. Second place - by some way - is EA Access on Xbox One with a 16 per cent slice of the pie, while Xbox Game Pass claims 15 per cent of the sector's cash."

"Though the subscription model clearly works for the video games space, it certainly raises questions over how we judge the success of individual games. For example, Microsoft has announced positive launches for Sea of Thieves, State of Decay 2 and Forza Horizon 4 with some impressive early player figures, but these titles are part of its Xbox Game Pass and Play Anywhere schemes, making it less obvious how many people have actually splashed the cash on these titles. In addition, player figures don't mean a huge amount when someone could have logged in to Rare's pirate romp once and never gone back."

More here: https://www.pcgamesinsider.biz/news...scription-services-generated-273m-in-q3-2018/
 

Toe-Knee

Member
It makes sense. Nearly everyone I know with a PS4 subscribes and I've had nothing but positive experiences with it.
 

YayNJ

Banned
Considering the hugely smaller install base, and the extra cost on top, the clear winner here is EA Access, no?
 

kraspkibble

Permabanned.
that's crazy. i didn't realise it was doing that well.

are you able to download all games or just PS4 games now? i've never had an issue with streaming the games but it would be much better if you could download them all.
 

kraspkibble

Permabanned.
Considering the hugely smaller install base, and the extra cost on top, the clear winner here is EA Access, no?
what is EA access? is that xbox only?

i think EA is impressive with their subscriptions considering they are more aimed at PC/Xbox (i think). Origin Premier is insane value for money on PC.
 

GribbleGrunger

Dreams in Digital
that's crazy. i didn't realise it was doing that well.

are you able to download all games or just PS4 games now? i've never had an issue with streaming the games but it would be much better if you could download them all.
edit: misread. Only the games made available to the service as far as I know.
 
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Toe-Knee

Member
that's crazy. i didn't realise it was doing that well.

are you able to download all games or just PS4 games now? i've never had an issue with streaming the games but it would be much better if you could download them all.
PS4 & ps2
 

nowhat

Member
So Sony, how about offering it in more countries? It seems the global rollout has stalled for quite some time now.
 

alienator

Member
These numbers are exciting and terrifying at the same time.

And somehow with these numbers i feel xbox gamepass and Ea gamepass are battling eachother. on 1 platform.. maybe Sony was right blocking this on ps4.
What if EA made (theoretically) 2-3 times more money on their service than microsoft itself ? Than its clearly a bad thing for ms...

The worst part of all this , for me atleast, as a game collector of physical games.. well u can guess it.. the digital future.. :(
 

Klart

Member
Wow, didn't expect it was doing so good. I always hear people complain that it's expensive or they think it wouldn't stream properly.
 

ROMhack

Member
Really? Last time I looked, the quality of games absolutely sucked. Who are these people desperate to take advantage of the PS3 library?

I don't own an Xbox One but that for me is a far better subscription service.
 
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Ozrimandias

Member
Just make this service available worldwide. Make this service more attractive, more PS2 Games, more PS1 Games etc.
Been almost 6 years and not more than 6 country have this service
 

The Shepard

Member
I honestly had no idea it was doing so well as all I hear on this forum is about game pass. I'll probably never subscribe this gen as I own a large amount of ps4 and ps3 titles but get it on ps5 at launch and I may bite.
 

sol_bad

Member
Didn't we have another thread recently where people were saying that Sony were behind the ball compared to Google and Microsoft and that they should watch out?
Seems like it is the opposite and Google/MS will have to work very hard.
I'm honestly really darn surprised to see how popular Now is, I can't personally fathom even playing games via streaming. I know it offers downloads now but was just a recent development.
 
It makes sense. Nearly everyone I know with a PS4 subscribes and I've had nothing but positive experiences with it.
Pretty sure you're mistaken that with Ps+
And even Ps+ has only 30 million subscriber.

Those Superdata numbers are for sure wrong.
Look at this picture why people subscribe to those services:
3-1080.3101856579.jpg


Nearly non of that applies to Ps Now. Only the lowest factors.
Their price sucks, they have a bad catalogue size, no discounts, no new singleplayer or multiplayer games, no high frequency of new games being added. No games before release.
Just classic / older games and the ability to stream games, lul


Not to mention Sony already axxed the service on any platform that isn't Ps4 or Pc
 
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azertydu91

Hard to Kill
Pretty sure you're mistaken that with Ps+
And even Ps+ has only 30 million subscriber.

Those Superdata numbers are for sure wrong.
Look at this picture why people subscribe to those services:
3-1080.3101856579.jpg


Nearly non of that applies to Ps Now. Only the lowest factors.
Their price sucks, they have a bad catalogue size, no discounts, no new singleplayer or multiplayer games, no high frequency of new games being added. No games before release.
Just classic / older games and the ability to stream games, lul


Not to mention Sony already axxed the service on any platform that isn't Ps4 or Pc

A lot of what you say is wrong.
That was the case at launch now the service is cheaper than gamepass if you buy a whole year, there's almost 3 times the number of games than on gamepass with about 700+, newer games added each months, the possibility to download Ps4 ans Ps2 games.

Their main problem is lack of advertising The service improved a lot in a way that you can barely recognize it from its launch but there barely advertised it.
 

Toe-Knee

Member
Pretty sure you're mistaken that with Ps+
And even Ps+ has only 30 million subscriber.

Those Superdata numbers are for sure wrong.
Look at this picture why people subscribe to those services:
3-1080.3101856579.jpg


Nearly non of that applies to Ps Now. Only the lowest factors.
Their price sucks, they have a bad catalogue size, no discounts, no new singleplayer or multiplayer games, no high frequency of new games being added. No games before release.
Just classic / older games and the ability to stream games, lul


Not to mention Sony already axxed the service on any platform that isn't Ps4 or Pc
I think I know what I subscribe to.

The catalogue is great for me.

New games are added monthly.

You have clearly never used it which is the case with most people who are negative about it.

Sure or sucks that I cant steam directly to my bravia anymore but I have two other systems connected to it that I can do no loss really.
 

Stuart360

Member
The only thing i dont like about these subscription things is that its going to skew game sales data, make games look like they have sold worse than they have if you know what i mean. Apart from that though, i think they are good ideas.
 

ILLtown

Member
Well Game Pass is the newest isn't it?, plus EA Access is on PC as well.
EA Access is Xbox One only. It's called Origin Access on PC, which is shown separately in the chart.

If that data is accurate, which I doubt given the source, then the EA Access numbers are really impressive given that it's a breakdown by revenue and it only costs £19.99 per year.
 
I don't know. I don't think I buy this. Every experience I've had with PSNow has been terrible. Not to mention not a single person I know has ever mentioned it or talked about using it.
 

Hendrick's

If only my penis was as big as my GamerScore!
I call bullshit. No one I know has even tried that service. Unless it's popular in Japan or something, this doesn't add up.
 

Blam

Member
I mean no shit the subscription service that lets you stream your games compared to one that gives you games to download is gonna have sold more on a bigger install base.
 

Gavon West

Spread's Cheeks for Intrusive Ads
I literally had no idea, I'm also shock game pass is behind ea
Aren't we comparing two different services here? Do they mean PS plus or PS Now? And how do they know its surpassed Gamepass? Microsoft hasn't given out any numbers... Strange. Stats are strange...
 

Blam

Member
Aren't we comparing two different services here? Do they mean PS plus or PS Now? And how do they know its surpassed Gamepass? Microsoft hasn't given out any numbers... Strange. Stats are strange...
This too MS never mentioned how many people are on gamepass and theres no metrics to see how many subbed.
 
This thread is hilarious.
This is data directly from a Nielsen company (SuperData), and the article itself attributes it to the sheer install base of the PS4. It's really not that surprising.
 

Codes 208

Member
It makes sense. Nearly everyone I know with a PS4 subscribes and I've had nothing but positive experiences with it.
You probably have better internet than i do because my experience with ps now has mostly been mediocre.

For starters depending on bandwidth speed or bottlenecks the resolution frequently dips for me and theres a noticeable amount of input lag. making platformers or speed-centric games like sonic generations practically unplayable for me.
 
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GribbleGrunger

Dreams in Digital
Assumed PSNow has flopped: "Not surprising, it runs like shit."
Find out it's successful: "Not surprising, it has a huge userbase."
 

Macrotus

Member
PS Now and not PS Plus?
If its not a typo, I'm really surprised. I can easily imagine PS Plus being the most successful though, just because of the install base.

If PS Now is that successful, I wonder if Sony would intentionally not make PS5 BC with PS1,2 and 3.
 
Larger install base with more popular titles is the reason for PS Now success.

Game Pass is on platform with install base of around 40m ( yes it's around 40m not 35 or less which fanboys trying hard to make it official) and EA access is on PC and Xbox.
 

Toe-Knee

Member
You probably have better internet than i do because my experience with ps now has mostly been mediocre.

For starters depending on bandwidth speed or bottlenecks the resolution frequently dips for me and theres a noticeable amount of input lag. making platformers or speed-centric games like sonic generations practically unplayable for me.
It's 100/7
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
But I was told PSNow sucks and nobody uses it on the internets?

Price would be a factor since it is pretty much all in one service (Stream/Online/Local Native). You do not need a separate PS+ for the multiplayer games on it, and you can download PS4 games to play natively like GamePass.
 
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Dirk Benedict

Gold Member
But I was told PSNow sucks and nobody uses it on the internets?

Price would be a factor since it is pretty much all in one service (Stream/Online/Local Native). You do not need a separate PS+ for the multiplayer games on it, and you can download PS4 games to play natively like GamePass.

It sucked when I tried it, but that was almost 4 years ago. I wonder how much it's matured since then.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
It sucked when I tried it, but that was almost 4 years ago. I wonder how much it's matured since then.

To the core gamer we may notice issues. We are not your average subscription type gamer which this appeals to.

We like native, perfectly responsive goodness on the best revisioned boosted boxes we can get.

But in all seriousness, I think it has improved big time since then, especially when they consolidated it to focus on the PS4/PC for their tooling efforts, and not be so spread out like they used to be. The addition to playing online for free, and able to download the games natively as well is/should be a big boost.
 
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Rayderism

Member
This is disappointing news. Most likely means they won't offer any BC on PS5 beyond PS4 games, if even that. Personally, I won't touch PS Now (I call them Piss Now streams, LOL), even on a free trial because I feel it sets a bad precedent for the future of gaming.

Just goes to show how "voting with your wallet" doesn't mean much these days. Gaming has become too mainstream for it to work much anymore.
 

Dirk Benedict

Gold Member
To the core gamer we may notice issues. We are not your average subscription type gamer which this appeals to.

We like native, perfectly responsive goodness on the best revisioned boosted boxes we can get.

But in all seriousness, I think it has improved big time since then, especially when they consolidated it to focus on the PS4/PC for their tooling efforts, and not be so spread out like they used to be. The addition to playing online for free, and able to download the games natively as well is/should be a big boost.

My primary problems were latency and this fuzziness that was around everything which could have been a bandwidth issue. So Latency and IQ were my quips. I may try and give it a go sometime in December. Since that time, we have upgraded our equipment and service up/down 200/200.
 
I'm personally not subbed to PS Now but I tried out to demo of it and was honestly surprised by how smooth the games ran. I even played the entire Last of Us for free on PS4 just with the demo and for the most part it looked and played very well. That being said, I do have very fast 60Mbps fibre optic broadband, so maybe that played a factor.

While the service isn't for me as I have my PS3 still plugged in next to my PS4, I can see why people would sub to it if the want to play some PS2/PS3 games. Now that they even let you download the PS4 games, it's an even better deal.
 

Zewp

Member
It's also the most expensive subscription when paid per month, no?

It makes sense that its revenue would be much higher than the others when they're charging, as an example, double per month what Xbox Game Pass is charging.

I'd be more interested in seeing subscriber numbers. I suspect EA/Origin Access will have all the others beat, considering it's only $5 a month.
 
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DeepEnigma

Gold Member
It's also the most expensive subscription when paid per month, no?

It makes sense that its revenue would be much higher than the others when they're charging, as an example, double per month what Xbox Game Pass is charging.

Yes, but it also is "all in one". See my post above.

So it is more cost effective with those things factored in.
 

AlexxKidd

Member
Assumed PSNow has flopped: "Not surprising, it runs like shit."
Find out it's successful: "Not surprising, it has a huge userbase."

Yes the "Sony is behind on streaming" narrative was strong considering they are the only one offering the service, yet somehow, they were "behind." Now, we see the actual revenue and we can again see why Micosoft is moving Game Pass to PC (following all of their first party titles). It is because install base is king. And if you want to compete with that insane install base, you can't do it even if you technically offer the "better" service (Day one first party games. You're never getting Spider-Man day one on PSNow).

The question now becomes, can Microsoft's specialty streaming service compete with the "failure" that is PSNow? We can assume Microsoft wants a do-over on install base so that service will most likely come to phones and anything else they can get it on, which may even the playing field but we shall see.
 
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