Sony slashes PlayStation Now prices in hopes to compete with Xbox and Stadia
Sony Computer Entertainment has announced permanent changes to its PlayStation Now pricing model alongside a global marketing campaign for the service.
After ticking along in the shadows for several years, it appears Sony is finally starting to take its cloud-based efforts more seriously in hopes to compete with the growing competition.
From now onwards, the monthly pricing model for PlayStation Now has been reduced across all regions, making it cheaper than ever to access Sony’s service. We’ve listed all the price changes below (courtesy of PlayStation Blog).
- US: $9.99 – monthly / $24.99 – quarterly / $59.99 – yearly (from $19.99/ $44.99/ $99.99)
- UK: £8.99 – monthly / £22.99 – quarterly / £49.99 – yearly (from £12.99 / (N/A) / £84.99)
Related: Best PS4 Games
Alongside this pricing change, Sony also announced the arrival of a bunch of blockbusters coming to PlayStation Now in the form of God of War, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and Infamous: Second Son. These are all solid exclusives, and can be downloaded locally to your PS4 hard drive.
Sony has said it will continue to introduce major titles to the service going forward, rolling out older entries in a timely manner so subscribers will have enough time to complete everything in their digital library. Much like Xbox Game Pass, the catalogue is constantly changing.
However, PlayStation Now remains a little more expensive when compared to Microsoft’s service, and there’s no ‘Ultimate’ subscription of sorts that compiles PlayStation Plus and Now. Perhaps that’s something we’ll see in the future with some luck.
This is rather convenient timing on Sony’s partly, like a pre-emptive response to Google Stadia and its upcoming November launch. Microsoft’s Project xCloud gaming service also enters a public beta this month, so this is a case of all companies throwing their cards onto the cloud gaming table.
We also wouldn’t be surprised if this is the first move of many by PlayStation in the cloud gaming department, with more major developments to follow with the long-awaited reveal of PS5. Much like Xbox 2, we expect cloud-based technologies to play a major role with the console.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
