(If you think this article is too negative than check out my sister article about “Why Playstation Now Is An Awesome Idea” right here!)
Playstation Now will officially release on January 13th in North America on the Playstation 4. While many people are excited for the ability to play PS3 games on the PS4 I cannot help but think that this idea has a few issues. Here are some problems with Playstation Now:
Lag
Lag is a major and also unavoidable issue with streaming. Lag is everywhere with remotely controlled devices but PS Now will seriously suffer from one person trying to control a machine which is hundreds of miles away. Fast-paced action titles such as first-person-shooters will be almost unplayable on the service which will be a major blow. Other titles which require perfect precision will also suffer. Many members of the press have reported that the service works well at trade shows such as CES but Beta users have not been so kind with their descriptions of PS Now’s lag problems when playing at home.
Lag was by far the biggest problem for many Beta testers through 2014, hopefully Sony has improved upon the issue but it is unlikely that they will ever completely fix this problem. It is likely that online multiplayer titles will connect to regular servers meaning that people playing on the PS3 will also play against PS Now users which will mean that crippling lag will result in one group of players having a massive advantage, no prizes for guessing the right group.
People Already Own PS3s
The Playstation 3 sold millions, upon millions of units worldwide, if you wanted to own a PS3 then you have already bought one. This also means that if you wanted to play PS3 games then you would have already have bought and played those titles before. Sony are asking people to double-dip with compressed versions of what a lot of people already own. There is an argument to be made to that the service is for people who did not own a PS3 and want to play the top PS3 exclusives like “The Last Of Us” for example but the issue with that is constant stream of ports on the PS4.
HD Ports
One thing which the PS4 (and Xbox One) in an abundance is ports. The current-gen systems have a sizeable portion of the top games from the PS3’s library with updated visuals. Considering that many of the games shown off such as The Last Of Us, Spelunky and The Walking Dead are also available on the PS4 without lag. Why would anyone choose to play The Last Of Us with lag and without all of the DLC instead of playing the superior remastered version.
Pricing
To be fair to Sony the subscription based pricing structure is far more appealing than the original (and terrible) rental only option but the fact is the pricing is still rather high. At its cheapest the service is $179.96 per year; when the service comes to the Europe and the rest of the world the price will be far higher as us non-Americans usually have to pay higher prices for just about everything.
You could probably find an actual PS3 for that kind of price and play the games lag free. Considering that this service will mostly likely be filled first by the Playstation faithful it is quite likely that the early adopters will already have many of the games on offer through PS Plus so there is little reason to pay $14.99 a month.
How Often Will It Work
If you are a long time user of the Playstation Network then you will know that the service goes down a lot. This was most evident during the Christmas period with the “Lizard Squad attacks” but the service goes down on the regular basis. Unlike regular gaming PS Now requires players to have an internet connection so the service will require a solid infrastructure, something that PSN is not known for. Hopefully PS Now will not suffer from the same issues which have plagued PSN for years but it is a very big possibility that it will.
Why Is It On The PS4 First
It is understandable that PS Now is only available in North America due to server restraints but why is it not on the PS Vita and other mobile devices first? Having the service available on portable devices would have been far more compelling as it would have provided a difference experience from the PS3 offered. Having the service on the PS4 first is fine and all but there would be more of an incentive for people who own PS3s to use the service. As previously mentioned the early adopters will mostly be hardcore Playstation fans, people who already own a PS3 so why not give these people something different? Maybe the reason is because the service may not work so well outside of people’s homes which brings us to my next point…
The Service Will Probably Not Work On The Go
When Sony originally unveiled what they were planning to do with Gaikai at the Playstation 4 reveal event in early 2013 the first trailer shown off a person playing video games on the bus, while this sounds amazing on paper it simply will not work in real life. Sony states that for the service to functional at an optimum level gamers will need an internet connection of 5 Mbps. Granted, some people may be able to meet this requirement on the go but most will not. I am not even mentioning the possible network charges for this type of internet usage. This is a shame as the idea of playing games like Uncharted 3 and The Last Of Us on the train or on the bus sounds amazing.
What do you think PS Now is good idea? Tell us in the comments below.