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Playstation Now Dominates Subscription Gaming

Calibos

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.

If be more interested in seeing subscriber numbers. I suspect EA/Origin Access will have all the others beat.

So much this. EA access and Games pass are way cheaper overall and still charting 31% between them. PS Now is on PC and PS4 and didn't they sell a standalone TV box for a while too? I am not trying to discount these numbers as it is impressive to me that a service that frankly, didn't work very well on my good internet, is doing so well. Latency and artifacting were persistent while playing God of War Ascension for me.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
So much this. EA access and Games pass are way cheaper overall and still charting 31% between them. PS Now is on PC and PS4 and didn't they sell a standalone TV box for a while too? I am not trying to discount these numbers as it is impressive to me that a service that frankly, didn't work very well on my good internet, is doing so well. Latency and artifacting were persistent while playing God of War Ascension for me.

PSNow includes multiplayer for those games (do not need Plus), downloadable native for PS4 games (like GamePass), and streaming. For $20 a month (when not on special).

You need Gold for the games on those other passes, you need Game Pass for downloaded Xbox games, and you will need to pay another separate subscription for xCloud if they do not combine it with GamePass, and if they do, the price will also go up. All of that added together comes out to more than PSNow, while having your card hit with all these separate transaction subs.

I personally do not use it, since I prefer native, but may do a trial when the backlog is caught up for the downloaded games.
 
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AlexxKidd

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.

Yes it is based on revenue, but even if you tripled the percentage for Game Pass PSNow would still have more.

If you added up all of EA's offerings (they are listed as three separate ones on the chart) they would make up 33 percentage points, which is nothing to shake a stick at considering EA is an individual publisher. I think if anything this shows you that major third party developers will no doubt be following in EA's footsteps in the future.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
Yes it is based on revenue, but even if you tripled the percentage for Game Pass PSNow would still have more.

If you added up all of EA's offerings (they are listed as three separate ones on the chart) they would make up 33 percentage points, which is nothing to shake a stick at considering EA is an individual publisher. I think if anything this shows you that major third party developers will no doubt be following in EA's footsteps in the future.

Ain't that the truth.
 

GribbleGrunger

Dreams in Digital
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.

Yep, there's no way PSNow is ever going to get new releases day and date with the console version. People mislead others and themselves by constantly associating PSNow with BC but it was never ever about BC, it was about untethering gaming from specific hardware. But at the same time, Sony would not want to cut into their own hardware sales by releasing their games simultaneously on both platforms.
 

Calibos

Member
PSNow includes multiplayer for those games (do not need Plus), downloadable native for PS4 games (like GamePass), and streaming. For $20 a month (when not on special).

You need Gold for the games on those other passes, you need Game Pass for downloaded Xbox games, and you will need to pay another separate subscription for xCloud if they do not combine it with GamePass, and if they do, the price will also go up. All of that added together comes out to more than PSNow, while having your card hit with all these separate transaction subs.

I personally do not use it, since I prefer native, but may do a trial when the backlog is caught up for the downloaded games.


Well color me educated!
 

Hendrick's

If only my penis was as big as my GamerScore!
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.
So your saying they are never wrong? Their track record on PSVR is laughable. I think they once declared more sales than units manufactured. Do a little research on Superdata and you will see they have been spitting out questionable figures for some time now.
 
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Zewp

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

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

I'm not making any claims about the value of the service, though.

I'm simply saying the chart isn't very useful in the grand scheme of things because it doesn't tell us anything other than one service is making more money than differently priced services. The data is ultimately not very useful.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
I'm not making any claims about the value of the service, though.

I'm simply saying the chart isn't very useful in the grand scheme of things because it doesn't tell us anything other than one service is making more money than differently priced services. The data is ultimately not very useful.

It is useful though. It is showing high revenue, and a reason others are jumping on the train.
 

gspat

Member
I used it when it was new, it didn't suck then.

Of course, this forum is for enthusiasts, so people are going to complain if its not 100% perfect. But for joe average, it\s perfectly fine for just playing the odd title once in a while without ever having to buy anything.

The numbers have me worried though. The way this seems to be going, physical will be going the way of the dodo soon. I worry for the future.

If everything goes digital, will any of it still exist when it's supposed to go public domain? I don't know if I trust any of them to preserve any of it.
 

Zewp

Member
It is useful though. It is showing high revenue, and a reason others are jumping on the train.

It's not, though. It's useful for one thing alone - seeing pure revenue.

For anything else it's not useful. It's like comparing Lamborghini revenue to the revenue VW makes on Citi Golfs. For every 1 month sub Sony sells, EA has to sell 4 1 month subs. Is the conclusion here that you should just up your subscription cost to increase revenue?

Not sure why this upsets you so much. I'm not insulting Sony or saying that PSNow is bad. I'm just pointing out that by virtue of having the more expensive service, the results are obviously going to be skewed in their favor.

I'd still like to compare subscriber counts across all services. It's a way more useful metric.
 
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thelastword

Banned
Ahhh, yet another PS service/feature is on top......Innovation Galore..

Shareplay=PS4
Ps Now/Streaming = PS4
VR=PS4
Controller with DPAD/Audio Jack/Share Button=PS4 Day 1 (launch)
Great Exclusive Games=PS4
Crossplay= Since PS2, the most CP games last gen and the most CP game this gen on PS4.

So many innovations, so many firsts on PS systems....I wonder what Sony will be accused of not innovating and sitting on their laurels about next....Yet they stay winning....

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.
Hey, did I miss that one? Does Google and MS even have a functioning streaming service with over 700+ games available? I guess you learn something every day.....

As for the latter.....unlike Nvidia, the service "just works", even the crappiest ISP delivers 5Mbs internet to it's customers surely, and this is what you need to stream on PSNOW as a baseline....It caters to a larger demographic.....So yes, PSNOW is successful, there are few things Sony has done that has not been successful though, even HOME was successful for them.......The thing is, it could be even more successful by rolling it out into more countries, but Sony didn't budge and instead devoted their time to improving their background online infrastructure with Gaikai and Onlive and of course getting ready for the next gen iteration, where they could roll their improved network out in time for PS5.....They have hinted or even outright said that so many times.....So since the competition is soooo-lttp, they've had enough time to prepare and improve things for a larger scale launch, where they will continue to dominate in that space.....

As for all the noise you hear on PSNOW streaming, it's similar to Crossplay, where you would have thought Sony was anti-CP by said noise, but instead, the facts indicate that they have been the ones pushing crossplay since PS2, it's ironic isn't it? Yet if you are listening to the likes of Louis Cyphre, Hendricks, Luvofthagame, Foxbat and one my favourites The Mike to get consensus on PSNOW, you are doing something wrong.....Even Koala Driving a Ferrari may have something to say, even if PSNOW is not available in his country...;)

In any case, I'm happy to see a non-innovator doing well ;) All the innovation seems to be on the other side it seems...
 

thelastword

Banned
But I was told EA Access matters, /laugh.
Ha, I wonder what MS will offer on gamepass if all other publishers begin their own service....I run windows 10 and I hardly know when there's a sale on Windows Store as it is, I mean they can do a pop-up or something...I know that few people use the store and it has little traction, but still....

As for PSNOW, it's only available in 12 countries ATM......I'm pretty sure that will expand with PS5 on Sony's new Network infrastructure....

It's also strange seeing some people doubting the info here (well not strange but..).....The truth is, PSNOW is not tied to a PS4, you can also sub if you have a PC, there's an app you download. So the market for PSNOW is more than PS owners or the installbase....It has nothing to do with PS Subs either because you do not need PLUS when you subscribe to PSNOW.....This is a great way for Sony to pull in PC players who don't have a PS4....You just pay one sub for streaming, no seperate sub for online play....
 
The big question is how many people using ps now are actually streaming games or simply using it to download games to their pc or ps4. Because of the overall number of ps4 owners, i suspect most people are downloading games and not streaming. Though i could easily be wrong. The other thing of note is that ps now has been out since 2014 while xbox game pass has only been out for a little over a year. 4 years is a lot more time to build up subscriptions. Regardless, kudos to sony.
 

FranXico

Member
The big question is how many people using ps now are actually streaming games or simply using it to download games to their pc or ps4. [...]
Downloads aren't available on PC.

Considering both streaming and downloads are part of the subscription, does it really matter which of the two options subscribers on the PS4 take?
 
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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.
If the first bold part is true, than the second bold part is also true.
But it still missing on the new core games.


IF God of War was on that, i would've already subscribed for a month :/
Thanks for correcting, me tho.
So maybe the service grew a lot lately without anyone noticing or telling.
 

mckmas8808

Banned
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.. :(

Don't worry about the digital ONLY future. $250 million over 3 months is alot of money, but it doesn't even sniff the money that physical games make.

I find this hard to believe to be honest.

Of course you do, because it goes against a "certain" narrative.
 

Zewp

Member
The big question is how many people using ps now are actually streaming games or simply using it to download games to their pc or ps4. Because of the overall number of ps4 owners, i suspect most people are downloading games and not streaming. Though i could easily be wrong. The other thing of note is that ps now has been out since 2014 while xbox game pass has only been out for a little over a year. 4 years is a lot more time to build up subscriptions. Regardless, kudos to sony.

It's very interesting to see how many people are willing to overlook context in order to immediately use this statistic as a platform to attack other subscription services. EA Access has been out for years, but only on Xbox One which has been outsold by PS4 roughly 2:1. Game Pass has been out a year, again only on Xbox One which has a significantly smaller player base than PS4.

I get it. People are happy that their favorite platform's subscription service is making the most money, but let's at least be rational about it instead of just attacking other services. For this to be a fair comparison we need to give newer services time to grow and compare subscriber numbers before we can gauge popularity. Game Pass is expanding to PC soon and I'm amazed at how well EA Access Premier is doing only 3 months after going live.

We're still in early days for most of these services. Things are likely to change a lot in the next few years.
 

azertydu91

Hard to Kill
If the first bold part is true, than the second bold part is also true.
But it still missing on the new core games.


IF God of War was on that, i would've already subscribed for a month :/
Thanks for correcting, me tho.
So maybe the service grew a lot lately without anyone noticing or telling.


Yeah I was really surprised by how much the service improved I tired it when it launched in the us and was really let down.
But when I tried it recently it was really good, it was may more intuitive and user firendly and for the games I played barely any input lag.
There's a lot to play and quite new games too I remember thay added Mafia 3 and Steep recently (2 games that I wanted to play).
The annual cost of PSnow is cheaper than gamepass 100$ a year is really not that much, the other options a too expensive, f the service interest you just buy a year.

I think that the diference between this and gamepass is the main goal:
I think the goal of gamepass is to attract people to the Xbox ecosystem.People where leaving and they needed to look pro consumer, That's probably why all of the xbox exclusives are on it day one (it also seems to point to a future where xbox is only a service which would be logical and I think the best way for microsoft to make most money) plus it's not a huge loss for MS which is severely lacking in exclusives and can avoid losses "thanks to" microtransactions.

The Psnow I think started as a way of allowing retrocompatibility the ps3 architecture makes it impossible to run on a ps4 and that's probably why it was awful at first.But as streaming services gained popularity and probably the EA access changed this idea of retrocompatibility to this little dose of crack that get you hooked you can play a lot of games just like gamepass but not exclusives or at least not so early just a few exclusives to make you buy the new ones, they won't cut their losses through microtransactions so just offer a bit and bet on the quality of the game to make people buy more.

I think those are good decisions for both to capitalize on their strenghts.

Anyway sorry if I took too long to reply and if I was unclear or sounded agressive please do not mind english isn't my native language and it's 2a.m, please notify me if you could not understand what I wrote I'll be happy to rephrase.
 

Shpeshal Nick

aka Collingwood
lol Superdata

If Sony had has many subscribers as is required to reach that much revenue, they'd be shouting it from the rooftops. They talk about PS Now as much as they talk about the Vita
 
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Humdinger

Member
Interesting. I'm surprised. All you hear about is Game Pass. PS Now typically gets dismissed as a second-rate, also-ran service. But based on that, it's a lot more successful than Game Pass, at about 3x the level (more than install base alone would account for). That's very different than what I expected.

Do they have a free trial period? I'll check it out again. I am about done with RDR 2

I believe I heard that Sony reset the "free trial" recently, so that even people who had done the free trial in the past could try for free again.
 
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joe_zazen

Member
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.

Apple makes a lot on games which is why they axed the steam streaming app. There is no way game streaming will be on ios unless MS is going to cut Apple in for 30%. Android will probably be ok though.
 

leo-j

Member
I am subscribed, they have a nice library of nearly 700 games.

Red dead
Bioshock
God of war
Uncharted
Ratchet
Lillzone
Resident evil
Devil may cry
And more franchises are all on it..... and I’m paying 10 bucks a month.
 

DilWSTS

Member
is this available in Australia? I have good internet and would consider it if i could play say demon souls
 

GribbleGrunger

Dreams in Digital
Pack it up, folks, it's been declared fake so you can all go back to hating on PSNow and pretend the streaming revolution hasn't started yet ...

giphy.gif
 
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Foxbat

Banned
People hating on PS Now should try it before shitting on it. Its not as bad as it was a few years ago. It still has its issues though, and while it's not worth it to me... I can see why it would be to someone else.

All that being said. The source for this is SuperData. They are on the same level as VGChartz when it comes to data. Anyone claiming some kind of victory here (tlw, I'm looking at you.) is just making themselves look like an idiot.

Save your parade for when real numbers are released.
 

Kagey K

Banned
Pack it up, folks, it's been declared fake so you can all go back to hating on PSNow and pretend the streaming revolution hasn't started yet ...

I can’t remember... Did Sony announce some gigantic Now subscription numbers right after they announced PSN numbers? Or did they themselves declare a dollar value attributed to game streaming or streaming services?

It’s hard to call it a revolution when it’s barely a drop in the sea. Most people I know and the general sentiment of this forum is that most people are very resistant to the idea of streaming vs local play. (Myself included)

There is no revolution yet. This is all the cars starting their ignitions and revving up for the race.

It’s way too early to compare services, especially when comparing vastly different services to be calling one a winner.
 
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Skyfox

Member
They used to have PS Now on Vita (but not in my country).

Really wish they had continued to roll it out! :cry:
 

mejin

Member
And only available on 12 countries?! Damn...huge potential for the future. Hope it comes to Brazil soon.
 

mckmas8808

Banned
I can’t remember... Did Sony announce some gigantic Now subscription numbers right after they announced PSN numbers? Or did they themselves declare a dollar value attributed to game streaming or streaming services?

It’s hard to call it a revolution when it’s barely a drop in the sea. Most people I know and the general sentiment of this forum is that most people are very resistant to the idea of streaming vs local play. (Myself included)

There is no revolution yet. This is all the cars starting their ignitions and revving up for the race.

It’s way too early to compare services, especially when comparing vastly different services to be calling one a winner.

I do agree with you that the revolution hasn't started yet. But the main issue we are having in this thread is that "some" people want to make it seem as if Sony, MS, Google, etc are all starting up their cars and revving up for the race. But that's NOT true. MS and Google are doing that. Sony has been running on the track and is already a few laps in the race. If the total race is 200 laps, Sony has already completed 20 laps. MS and Google are still warming up the engines to get ready.
 

mckmas8808

Banned
lol Superdata

If Sony had has many subscribers as is required to reach that much revenue, they'd be shouting it from the rooftops. They talk about PS Now as much as they talk about the Vita

It's because you get all your information and data from podcast and video game news articles. You have actual gamers here telling you what the service has and the quality of it.
 

CeeJay

Member
I do agree with you that the revolution hasn't started yet. But the main issue we are having in this thread is that "some" people want to make it seem as if Sony, MS, Google, etc are all starting up their cars and revving up for the race. But that's NOT true. MS and Google are doing that. Sony has been running on the track and is already a few laps in the race. If the total race is 200 laps, Sony has already completed 20 laps. MS and Google are still warming up the engines to get ready.
Are Sony's, Microsoft's and Googles cars all equal or is it like a multi-class race?
 

mckmas8808

Banned
Are Sony's, Microsoft's and Googles cars all equal or is it like a multi-class race?

Absolutely multi-class race lol. No way Sony has the same cars for this "Streaming Race" as Google and MS. And that's the point. Sony knew this from the get-go. If your car isn't as good and you know it'll have some problems during the race, the best thing you can do is start racing before everybody else just to get some laps in.
 
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DunDunDunpachi

Patient MembeR
I personally don't care for the service, but it's impressive to see it flourish. Sony knew what they were doing.

I suppose if "Xbox Game Pass is a Game Changer" and a "system seller", then PS Now is even moreso, especially since you can now download 1/3rd of the games.
 

demigod

Member
I'm betting MS will drop the price of Game Pass subs for Gold members, just to follow up next year with a Gold sub price hike.
 

Kerotan

Member
Ha, I wonder what MS will offer on gamepass if all other publishers begin their own service....I run windows 10 and I hardly know when there's a sale on Windows Store as it is, I mean they can do a pop-up or something...I know that few people use the store and it has little traction, but still....

As for PSNOW, it's only available in 12 countries ATM......I'm pretty sure that will expand with PS5 on Sony's new Network infrastructure....

It's also strange seeing some people doubting the info here (well not strange but..).....The truth is, PSNOW is not tied to a PS4, you can also sub if you have a PC, there's an app you download. So the market for PSNOW is more than PS owners or the installbase....It has nothing to do with PS Subs either because you do not need PLUS when you subscribe to PSNOW.....This is a great way for Sony to pull in PC players who don't have a PS4....You just pay one sub for streaming, no seperate sub for online play....

The more I read about this the more I think Sony are doing it right. For me PS Now is basically in beta state all this gen. And I think that's a good approach. Next gen is when streaming will really take off similar to how Digital took off this gen. Only 12 countries is crazy, Sony could get that up to 50+ countries for the PS5. Greatly increase the library for streamed + downloadable games plus a ton of PS4 titles as well as some PS5. No PS Plus required and the platforms are PC + Playstation which gives a huge target audience. Theres no reason mobile can't be covered too. Imagine PS Now got big enough to the point where they could offer a package, Netflix + PS Now for say €25 a month. Lots of potential here. The best news here is it's already bringing in a lot of reenue which will only motivate Sony to bring it to the next level.
 
I finally got a new laptop, and I totally forgot about PSNow. I can finally play Until Dawn and I now have a way to revisit Eternal Sonata.
 
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