PlayStation Now Pricing Thoughts
So, it seems like we have the pricing for PlayStation Now. $20/month or $45 for 3 months.
On the surface of it, it isn't a terrible deal. It is high for a subscription service however and it hasn't been tested at production load. Sony and Xbox Live have also been huge targets of DDOS attacks of late and Sony seems to have at least 1 data breach a year at this point. This cost is also in addition to PlayStation+ which many consider to be a must have.
By the way, 4 x a 3 month subscription to cover you for the year will set you back $180, or $240 if you go month to month for a year. In one case you're just under half the cost of the console per year and on the other side well over half the cost.
The point being; the service better be stellar any time it is up and it better be up almost all of the time. At those prices outages aren't going to be acceptable to end users.
This also paints Sony's rejection of EA Access in a much clearer light. PlayStation Now, from a price perspective is a much harder sell if you also had access to something like EA Access. Also, if EA Access is a success it could pave the way for other companies to follow suit. And, you could have 4 such subscriptions going for the same price.
I'm not saying EA Access and PSNow do the same thing, and I'm not saying that there is no value to PSNow. They are very different services. But, the cost gap between the two could easily drive people to try EA Access and never even check out PSNow.
For me, $20 a month or even $45 for 3 months is just too steep for a subscription service of this sort. I don't rent games either though. And the value might be totally different if I did. However, I would need to have a habit of renting 3-4+ games a month, and older games only at that to make it apples to apples and justify the cost. I didn't buy a next gen console to rent last gen games on even if there were compatibility. The demand for last gen games was a temporary cry while content fills out. Aside from a few cult classics no one wants PS2 or PS1 games and over time the same will be true of PS3 games.
There is a market for this, I'm sure. I just don't think that at this price it is as big a market as the Sony fans think it will be and I don't think it offers enough value for the cost for many who may like the idea. $10 a month would have been ideal, and $15 acceptable. $20 hits psychological barriers. Add in PS+ and your PlayStation subscriptions will be costing you the equivalent of a new console every year.
Sony says that they plan to extend this to other platforms in the future. If it ever lands on Xbox One, I won't be partaking. It isn't to spite Sony either. It is just too much money. I graduated and have a job, I can afford it financially, but cannot play enough games (and would not play enough games) in a month to justify the price tag. Perhaps therein lies the real problem... the biggest demographic that can afford such a service, doesn't have enough time to justify the cost.
Time will tell. How well the solution performs and uptime once globally available will have an impact on acceptance. If those are good enough the service may thrive. As I said, there is value for those who can spend hours a day in front of a console.
On the surface of it, it isn't a terrible deal. It is high for a subscription service however and it hasn't been tested at production load. Sony and Xbox Live have also been huge targets of DDOS attacks of late and Sony seems to have at least 1 data breach a year at this point. This cost is also in addition to PlayStation+ which many consider to be a must have.
By the way, 4 x a 3 month subscription to cover you for the year will set you back $180, or $240 if you go month to month for a year. In one case you're just under half the cost of the console per year and on the other side well over half the cost.
The point being; the service better be stellar any time it is up and it better be up almost all of the time. At those prices outages aren't going to be acceptable to end users.
This also paints Sony's rejection of EA Access in a much clearer light. PlayStation Now, from a price perspective is a much harder sell if you also had access to something like EA Access. Also, if EA Access is a success it could pave the way for other companies to follow suit. And, you could have 4 such subscriptions going for the same price.
I'm not saying EA Access and PSNow do the same thing, and I'm not saying that there is no value to PSNow. They are very different services. But, the cost gap between the two could easily drive people to try EA Access and never even check out PSNow.
For me, $20 a month or even $45 for 3 months is just too steep for a subscription service of this sort. I don't rent games either though. And the value might be totally different if I did. However, I would need to have a habit of renting 3-4+ games a month, and older games only at that to make it apples to apples and justify the cost. I didn't buy a next gen console to rent last gen games on even if there were compatibility. The demand for last gen games was a temporary cry while content fills out. Aside from a few cult classics no one wants PS2 or PS1 games and over time the same will be true of PS3 games.
There is a market for this, I'm sure. I just don't think that at this price it is as big a market as the Sony fans think it will be and I don't think it offers enough value for the cost for many who may like the idea. $10 a month would have been ideal, and $15 acceptable. $20 hits psychological barriers. Add in PS+ and your PlayStation subscriptions will be costing you the equivalent of a new console every year.
Sony says that they plan to extend this to other platforms in the future. If it ever lands on Xbox One, I won't be partaking. It isn't to spite Sony either. It is just too much money. I graduated and have a job, I can afford it financially, but cannot play enough games (and would not play enough games) in a month to justify the price tag. Perhaps therein lies the real problem... the biggest demographic that can afford such a service, doesn't have enough time to justify the cost.
Time will tell. How well the solution performs and uptime once globally available will have an impact on acceptance. If those are good enough the service may thrive. As I said, there is value for those who can spend hours a day in front of a console.
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