You’ve been able to rent games through PlayStation Now for several months now, but many of you have asked –- what about a subscription? I’m pleased to announce that starting January 13th, we’ll launch a subscription service for PlayStation Now that will provide instant and unlimited access to a catalog of more than 100 PS3 games. And since you’re using PlayStation Now, you can enjoy the freedom to quickly discover and play a wide range of full games without downloads, installs, or patches (not to mention trips to the store). The subscription service will be available first on PS4 across North America, and will come to other PlayStation Now enabled devices in the future.
You’ll be able to choose from two subscription plans: one month for $19.99, or a three-month package for $44.99 (about $15 per month). The subscription provides access to a large and diverse catalog of PS3 games, ranging from action to RPG and everything in-between. Check out our launch trailer for a sneak peek.
We know that there are many PS4 owners who never owned a PS3 or had a chance to play some of the great games it offered, and this subscription provides an easy way to catch up on games you may have missed.
Want to try before you buy? Well, good news! We’ll also offer a free seven-day trial to the subscription program when it launches.
PlayStation Now subscription will have strong and growing support from our publishing partners, and at launch you’ll find great games in your catalog from the likes of SCE Worldwide Studios, Warner Brothers, SEGA, and many others, including indie developers. Here’s a look at some of the key titles:
There’s strong value with the subscription, as you’re getting access to over a hundred great games and lots of hours of game time. What’s more, we will be adding even more games over time, so you will always have something great to play.
Also, to celebrate the launch of the subscription service, a free PlayStation Now theme will be available for PS4 users in early January. If you download the theme before January 31, you’ll be automatically entered into a drawing for a chance to win a one-year subscription to PlayStation Now. I hope you will give the new PlayStation Now subscription a try, and I look forward to hearing your continued feedback as we grow the service.
Will south park stick of truth be available on this service?
What versions of the games are they? Are they missing features? Or is it like a full version as if you bought the game yourself? Thus does it support multiplayer? Can I play a ps4 game that my buddy owns and play him online? And do any games then support couch co op if supported in the physical purchase versions?
Can you buy the subscription with wallet money from a Playstation $20 card? Or do you have to have a credit card?
So you’re telling me I have to shell out another $180 a year for my PS4 to be backwards compatible on top of the $60 for playstation plus? I’ll save the money, buy another PS3 and order a gamefly subscription.
you know what they say, more money more problems. You guys got hacked 2 weeks ago to the point where I couldn’t even use the service I paid $60 for and now you’re asking for 3x that? come back to me when it takes more than a five year old mashing buttons on an iphone to hack into your servers.
No PS Now theme in the Canadian PSN store. Does this mean the theme is US only?
This is fantasmoooo!!!!! What a way to kick off the new year!!!! Now just hoping the first PS4 Gundam game makes it to the west just like J-Stars!!! But seriously this is awesome. .. will be subscribing by the summer time!
I will tell you I wish that I could sign up today! I have been waiting for this for awhile. I have no problem paying 20 bucks a month for such a massive back catalog. Now if only we could play some Crash Bandicoot.. I mean look at those ratchet and clank and jax and daxter collections. Where’s Crash?
NO HORRIBLE, BAD SONY,
I will not pay 15$ a month to play my old games i already own, on PS4. Make PSnow a rental service for PS4 game and let us be able to download our old games …Stop being money mongering Aholes
Well looks like i will be swithing over from the mail one to this one. Thanks sony you got my subscription. Been wait a long time for this.
Do you know if the online-multiplayer its available or just the campaing. I’d never play the last of us multiplayer, if its available its a yes for me.
This could be a great service, however the problem is the cost.. When you launched the beta I did not play one game Evan though the service looked really cool the problem was the price you were asking for a game. Rental looks like you guys have the upper hand and have a really cool. Service which lends it’s self to your profile and image as being the best in the world you have Xbox by th balls on this one again if you want to dominate you need to get the price down to netflix costs 8 bucks a month every playstation owner will buy but at the current price I think you will have a lot of people. Who will not see enough value in it Evan 10 would be OK if I thought about it enough
I like the idea but that is extremely overpriced. I’d sooner just buy a used PS3 and get what games I want for it. It would’ve been nice if you just would’ve made the PS4 backwards compatible.
Is the ps2 stat wars battlefront series or the ps3 force unleashed series coming to ps now? There are NO Star Wars games on ps4 yet!
And as usual for this “blog,” only positive comments get responses. As many have said, the pricing is ridiculous. It would be a no-brainer to lock people in for a year at $10/month. Even that would probably be too much for me to go for, but I would think it’s a reasonable price. And there should 100% be a discount if you are already paying for PS+.
I don’t understand why people are complaining about the price. If you pay for 3 mo’s you get to play 100 games, at $15 a month, with the promise of more. I currently pay $15 a month for a subscription to an online game I play and psnow subscription seems like a steal compared to that (the other pricing was a rip off though).
Hi I was reading through the comments and saw you guys mention some games will not be covered by the monthly subscription, a big influence for me to get playstation now is Catherine and a few other titles that are currently on the playstation now service, is Catherine and the games that are already on the service be covered by the subscription?
I would love to see any of the .HACK// games in this, i did try the playstation now with final fantasy and even the fact that you can still earn trophies was amazing however, it does not have many RPGs games. also it would be great if there was some sort of voting system implemented in this site or a site for the PSnow where u can vote for games and most popular get released. PSnow has alot of potential and 20 bucks a month on top of the PSplus does seem to be a bit odd, so making a bundle that saves some money would also be a good idea. i have no knowledge on how long it takes to make games available nor the process behind it but i do believe Sony is doing a great job and they have just discovered a great tool. and i had a question if anyone can answer it. why is, you being able to download the game and being able to play it for as long as you have the membership not an option? just like the free games for the PSplus members. in overall, Sony you are doing great, i am not complaining just tossing ideas, maybe your team have already had this ideas and are trying to bring a better experience as time goes by. so thank you for doing this and youa re making alot of classic PlayStation lovers happy.
This is awesome! I’m excited to try this out! Are any of these games through this service have trophy support?
Definitely overpriced, but love this idea I was in the beta and loved it but I will not pay that much for the service, hope it will go down a bit
This is cool. but is there a yearly plan? and please make it like 5 dollars cheaper for the monthly plan, and maybe about 7-10 dollars cheaper for 3 month. and maybe you can make this plan like 2 dollars cheaper for ps plus members. And maybe once a year throw in a free week instead of 2 games a month for ps plus members.
But will we still be able to rent individual games?
Definitely hoping for more of the $10/month range, even if that is the discounted price for a 1 year subscription. As a former xbox owner, there are definitely a number of titles I want to play. All that being said this is a far better model than the rental program. My only concern is that since you do not download the games will I be playing though a game, step away for a week and come back to find that that game is no longer available.
Most wanted: God of War, Metal Gear and Uncharted
Last of Us coming to Playstation Now??
will i be able to play the multiplayer with PS3 users as well or only people on PS4?
Would this work outside the U.S.A?
This is great!
Please add ‘Tales of Xilla’ and ‘Tales of Xilla 2’ in the list!!
Since you guys will be adding games to the PS Now list will the games be added monthly (like the free psn games) or will you be adding games randomly? Also, will PS Now subscriptions have physical cards that we can purchase at stores?
persona arena ultimax, read dead redemption,guilty gear xrd sign, kingdom hearts and exclusive ps4 games and I’m sold. thats hefty but hey so is $20 a month
Thank You Sony, Love PS Plus And PS Now.
Hope I Win To Test The Sub Out! :)
P.S. I Will Support PSN Forever <3
I don’t see an issue with the pricing. I think 15 a month is reasonable, 180 a year. With a launch catalog of over 100 games accessible you’re getting the content at under 1.80 per title, Even less when they open the complete library. Which it should have already been that way. The single month for 20 isn’t something I would be interested in. Single months should have been 15 and a discount from that for 3+ months. But that’s just my opinion. There needs to a few more flexible subscription options to accommodate a wider spectrum.
Yeah, I’d rather have access to all those PSN games I already paid for, to be able to just download and install them, and play them right on the PS4. Ahh well, you pulling this sick joke of a service just means I won’t be buying a PS4 until it’s much cheaper. Maybe it will have something to offer by that point. I’d like to say there aren’t enough suckers out there for this to be successful, but I know that would just be a lie. Ugh, sickening.
Will this be available to ps3 users
To all those asking about being able to play games you already own…. You kind of fail to understand that streaming costs money in terms of server and bandwidth. Sure, the price you pay cover up some licencing fee for the games, but it also covers what it cost to Sony to have a server render the game you’re playing and streaming that data to you. You can own the original disc, or have paid for a download version, it doesn’t change the fact that it will still cost Sony money to allow you to play via streaming. They can’t just “give away” something that cost them money.
But at the same time, I still understand your point. From a consumer perspective, it’s paying again for what we already paid, and it’s insulting. BUT, as streaming costs money to Sony, they can’t realistically stream your titles to you free of charge. You can’t really expect this.
I don’t like PS Now either, BTW. While it may be good for some to play games they didn’t play before, I’m personnaly more interested in being able to play games I already paid for. I don’t like paying again for doing so even if I understand why.
Oh, and to all those complaining that Sony isn’t fixing this or that, or not bringing a specific feature to the PS4 system… well… PS Now is something that will bring Sony money. OF COURSE they are putting a lot more effort behind it than trying to fix or improve things for a system that is still selling very well anyways, without said fix or features….
This is a perfect case of business common sense.
And while I want as much as anybody else the PS4 to be DLNA compatible and play videos from USB drives, I understand that’s this is NOT a priority for Sony. Addressing those issues won’t bring any more money. Sure, they will probably address those eventually, because it IS a concern for many customers, but since that doesn’t prevent anyone from buying a PS4 (as they are selling very well thank you), why would they put more effort behind this, than behind PS Now (that would bring them more money)?
Now if that would be a MAJOR concern for potential buyers preventing hundreds of thousands of people from buying a PS4, they would fix it pretty quickly. But that’s not the case.
Yes, I’d like to features too. But I’m afraid we’ll just have to wait.
“We know that there are many PS4 owners who never owned a PS3 or had a chance to play some of the great games it offered, and this subscription provides an easy way to catch up on games you may have missed.”
That’s awesome, but what about those of us who bought every PlayStation ever made and already owned some of these games? I’m sure consumer loyalty means something in Japan as well as it does here in America. After all, with having to pay to play (and I have no problem with that, severs cost money) however, I believe we should get the games we already purchased for free. It will not only help get some of us weary PlayStation lovers to try it out and we might just love it enough to join the full service. It’s a perfect mea culpa for not having backwards compatibility and charging an online game play fee. It’s a win win, more subscribers, happy subscribers and more PS4 sales.
Cool! This reminds me of Sega Channel but better. $15 per month isn’t bad either considering GameFly’s pricing. I would never pay $20 though.
It would be nice if I could stream the games I already purchased in PSN store.
I agree a $9.99 price would be great. Will there be an option to buy the games out right like steam or iTunes (with competitive pricing)? I recently sold my PS3 to upgrade to a 4 and would like this option.
Sony doesn’t have to let us stream are ps3 digital games we purchased but they could let us download them to are ps4 and run on emulation.
Look at last of us sony is triple dipping it came out on ps3 than remastered for ps4 now ps now so they want us to pay for the game 3 times.
since the ps4 launch sony has been having problems with the online servers.
The drive club mess that still hasn’t been fixed and delivered to ps plus subscribers.Also they have given no news about it.
Then the hole holiday mess which ik now was knot entirely sony fault but they were party responsible they couldn’t handle the problem and had to call in an outside service.They waited two days to say anything to costumers then they lied and said it was fixed.
So what are they doing a week later they announce they are starting another online service.and asking for more of are money
Are they kidding? are they serious?
And you people in this comment section are ready to throw money at them are you serious?
Please read your terms of service very carefully.
Will I have to be signed into my account to access the PS Now. Like lets say I have a PS Now subscription and the PS4 is my main one will users like my kids who sign into theres be able to access it to?
As much as i would love to be behind this…im finding it harder and harder to justify it and here is why, 1st question am i expected to maintain 2 subscriptions at one time? meaning im having to pay for PSN to be online…now with this being a streaming service i need online access to PSN so im having to pay for that as well as PS Now and even if i pay for a year for both services, its not a given that im going to get my money’s worth. Here is a Idea…one set price for a years access if you buy a bundled PS+ membership/PS Now for PS3 and a 1 discounted price for PS4 since we are REQUIRED to have a PS+ membership to even be online …something to think about
as for the up coming game selection …why the lack of RPG/JRPG selection? I mean i had a Ps One and Ps2 and that was you guys bread and butter and…nothing…i mean if its coming down the pipe then good on you guys but it should have been up front to bring in more of the nostalgia buffs ..just my opinion
this is a step in the right direction to be sure…but still needs a bit of tweaking to really peak my interests and sink money into a double subscription
I agree with a number of comments here regarding the price point. I can get that PlayStation Now could be viewed as targeting the audience of gamers that can only afford to play games every so often due to either time or money. On the flip side however, if you’re looking to give competition to a service like GameFly, you need to have competitive pricing. I don’t really see how charging almost as much for a year of PlayStation Plus for 3 months of PlayStation Now makes any sense. Additionally, if you’ve already got a loyal, paying fan base in PlayStation Plus subscribers, why not cut them some slack on the pricing with a discount like so much other content. You could even have a PlayStation Plus + membership which grants access to all the PlayStation Now content for a small nominal increase in their annual dues. Just a thought.
The thing that bothers me the most is the price. $20 for an unlimited access to all the available games on the streaming service. Before the question of whether the service is coming to PSTV, tablets, Smart TVs, and of course my beloved PS3, I must declare that $20/mo is pretty steep for most consumers. Most brand new physical copies of slightly older PS3 games can be bought for $20 or less on Amazon, albeit a single copy. But how many games do they honestly think people can play fully within a month? So I propose a charge by the amount of hours spent on the service (once some reports on usage come in of course). Here’s a sample:
– $5/mo for up to 150 hrs of gameplay (for your casual gamer)
– $10/mo for up to 400 hrs (for your average gamer)
– $15/mo for up to 1000 hrs (for your hardcore gamer)
– $20/mo for unlimited (for those who simply can’t get enough)
Consider everything I said and if you really love your fans, show some love to those who can’t afford a PS4 yet. Stream some PS4 games on the service so that PS3 players could get a taste of this generation.
I<3PS
Lets just say im still on ps3, and if i bought this what would happen if i had bought a PS4? What is the difference between Playstation TV and Playstation Now? I also think the prices are not far, they should be about the same as Playstation Plus.
Will we be seeing Demon’s Souls on the catalog? That’s all I really care about.
Please bring Shadow of the Colossus back onto PSNow. I haven’t had the chance to play it yet and was wanting to but you guys removed it after the Alpha. Dang. Also please bring RE2 and Twisted Metal 2 into the mix. IMO those are the best 2 PSX games ever!
So the subscription plan is only going to be available on PS4 starting January 13? Any idea about Playstation TV?
what about being able to read new games eventually as they come outso not only using the PS now platform as a way to deliver ps3 PS 2 and ps1 games but also away for users to play the latest games on ps4 the same as if they would rent it from Redbox or Gamefly
sorry I meant rent
The idea for a subscription based plan is on the right track and I think the idea is great. At the same time however $180 a year at the $45 three month plan is too hefty especially after paying $50 for PS Plus. There should be a discount for PS Plus subscribers. Also if your going to do a 3 month tier, why not a yearly plan. I would pay $180 yearly for PS now and PS Plus if they came bundled together. Once again right idea, but the implementation needs tweaking.
Any estimate dates for when this is coming to europe? And do you have any information to whether ni no kuni is coming to PS now?