Recently, at the Consumer Electronics Expo (CES) Sony revealed its video game streaming service called PlayStation Now which is the result of 2012’s Gaikai acquisition which cost the company a cool $380 Million which some of us thought to be steep. Since then lots has happened and Sony finally announced the name of the service and what we can expect from the new streaming solution.
Games media got a hold of the tech in a relatively real world scenario at CES and says it works pretty well with some input lag and the Beta for PlayStation Now starts this month for you to try for yourself. The big question remains, do we care?
How can Sony sell us the ‘big idea’ of PS Now?
The answer to this seems twofold. One, they don’t have to convince gamers at all since it is heavily geared toward the mainstream as PS Now will work not only on PS4 and Vita but also new Bravia TVs, your tablet or smartphone as well as the good old PC. Streaming PlayStation games to all these devices is cool if it works as well as press is saying but of course we need more info and real life hands on in the living room or at Starbucks over Wifi. The second part of course are PS4 and PS Vita owners who want backwards compatibility of PS3, PS2 and PS One games on their new devices.
Sony looked at Gaikai as a solution for backwards compatibility which was missing from the PS4 hardware and seems to have found so much more potential in this service. I for one want this to work but can Sony make us believe or want this service?
What does Sony have to do to convince gamers of PlayStation Now?
The answers are pretty simple. Shocking? Keep in mind Sony stated that PS Plus will be offered as a la cart via individual game rentals via streaming or an all you can eat monthly / annual subscription. Gamers and even the general public are smart and can see when something has value, and when it is simply not competitive with other similar products on the market.
#1 Price competitively! – Sony has to make sure we are happy with the pricing model. Netflix and Hulu Plus are 8 Dollars a month and Spotify is not far behind with $10. The price for PS Now cannot exceed 10 Dollars a month. Of course the a la cart model cannot be too expensive. Game rentals should be for about a week and not exceed 5 to 10 Dollars depending on how new the title is. Think Redbox which is 1 to 2 bucks a day for movies.
#2 PS Plus Membership matters! – While Sony offers an amazing service in PS Plus, it cannot decide to charge full price for Plus Members who helped build the service and are loyal customers. Sony should consider a discount or additional perk like free monthly rentals as part of the membership.
#3 Day and Date with Retail Releases! – If PS Now is to succeed, it has to be a viable option for newer PS3 games like the upcoming Dark Souls 2 or Final Fantasy XIII for example. PS Now members will want to have access to the games on day one and not wait 2 months for them to come out.
#4 Bandwidth! – PlayStation Now will be a very intensive service and require 5 M/bits down to work nicely which is below the US average but many homes still have spotty internet. Keeping the requirements stable and realistic is a must. Also, remember those bandwidth caps ISPs are putting on its subscribers now.
#5 Performance! – In order for this technology to be viable and more than just a glorified plug and play in a hotel room, PS Now has to be low latency and close enough to be playable input-wise or the experience will suffer and just not warrant a $10/month investment.
