14 DAY TRIAL // Video game publisher and hardware maker Sony has announced that the PlayStation Now service for the PlayStation 4 is now live in its beta state in both the United States and Canada, allowing players to stream a variety of video games directly to their home console.
As part of the official announcement, the company states, “During the PS Now Open Beta, PS4 users will see a diverse library of more than 100 titles to rent, with more added regularly. PS Now will offer a variety of rental periods depending on the game, including 7-days, 30-days or 90-days, as well as a short 4-hour duration, so players can sample the experience first.”
All titles that are included in the PlayStation Now beta will support Trophies, friend lists and leaderboards, and Sony says that a strong and stable broadband connection should allow gamers to enjoy the same level of visual and gameplay quality as with titles they have purchased from retail.
All games also support multiplayer, and the same service will be offered on other PlayStation platforms in the coming months, although clear dates are not yet available.
Sony adds, “Since we’re still in Beta, and in the very early days of PS Now, we plan to continue to collect feedback during this Open Beta phase to make further refinements to the service, so please provide us feedback once you’ve experienced the service.”
The company also thanks all those who have been part of the private beta for PlayStation Now and have offered feedback that allowed the quality of the service to be improved.
Sony also says that it will cut the price for four-hour rentals in a few weeks to bring it to 1.99 dollars.
PlayStation Now will also get a subscription option at some point in the future, but the company has not yet worked out all the details about availability and pricing and plans to make an official announcement once it has more data to work with.
The service is very important for the PlayStation 4 because it opens up a new way for gamers to experience their favorite titles, using streaming technology that was acquired along with Gaikai a few years before.
It will be interesting to see how many Sony fans adopt PlayStation Now and what kind of changes the company will make to the pricing of the various rental options based on feedback coming from the community.
