Sony slashes PlayStation Now prices to compete with streaming rivals

Sony has slashed PlayStation Now prices in a bid to be more competitive with rival streaming services.

In some cases the platform holder has halved the price of the subscription service, which is available monthly, quarterly and annually. From today it costs:

PlayStation Network VP Grace Chen said in a PlayStation Blog post: “Starting today, PS Now will be offered at a more compelling price that is comparable to other entertainment streaming services on the market. Current customers will see this new pricing reflected in their next billing cycle.”

PlayStation Now will be adding “blockbuster” games each month, available for a limited time, starting today with God of War, Grand Theft Auto V, Infamous Second Son and Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End.

“These games will be available from October 1, 2019 until January 2, 2020,” Chen said. “Each month, the service will add a new selection of marquee games that will be available for a limited period.

“The marquee content is on top of the existing offering of popular evergreen titles that are added to PS Now on a regular basis.”

Sony acquired cloud gaming company Gaikai in 2012, before using its technology and intellectual property to launch PlayStation Now in 2014.

The service provides unlimited access to a growing library of over 800 PS4, PS3 and PS2 games, although the exact number and selection varies by region.

In September 2018, Sony introduced the ability for PS Now users to download PS4 games in order to play them offline.

Sony CFO chief financial officer Hiroki Totoki said in April: “Since the launch of this download service, gameplay time per user has grown significantly to the point where gameplay time on downloaded PS4 titles is double that of streamed titles, a trend which has contributed to higher user engagement with, and retention on, the PS Now service.”

He added: “The average annual increase in paid subscribers has exceeded 40% since the service was launched and the number of users has increased around the same amount every year, reaching approximately 700,000 today.”

Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan said in July he expects PS Now to play an increasingly important role in the PlayStation business over the coming years.

In comparison, Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription plan includes Xbox Live Gold and unlimited access to over 100 downloadable console and PC games for $14.99/£10.99 per month.

Microsoft recently opened registration for the preview version of its Project xCloud game streaming service, ahead of its launch later in October.

Google is set to launch its game streaming service, Stadia, in November 2019.