Earlier this week at its Sony Computer Entertainment event preceding the opening of the 2015 Tokyo Game Show, Sony finally launched the PlayStation Now game streaming service for the PS4 as an open beta (it saw a limited closed beta roll out in August) in Japan with approximately 150 PS3 titles available initially that can be either rented (in 4 hour, 7 day, 30 day, 90 day increments per game) or a subscription service of 1 or 3 months where you can play all of the titles available.
PS Now has been available in the US as a full release on the PS4 since January 2015 (and May 2015 on the PS3). In the EU, it has been in preview beta for the PS4 since March 2015. PS Now is Sony’s solution to being able to play older generation console (specifically PS3 for the time being) titles on the PS4. The plan is to also eventually have current generation (PS4) games available on the service as Sony is looking to broaden access to the service beyond just their own hardware consoles.
Sales of the PlayStation 4 hasn’t been exactly stellar in Japan compared to other regions; even the older PlayStation 3 has been keeping pace with the newer console based on monthly unit sales numbers from Famitsu. The main reason for the slower sales in the country is due to smartphone mobile gaming; it fits in well with the mobile lifestyle where people often times game casually on their smart devices while commuting to/from work/school on the trains. Furthermore, there are many free to play or inexpensive (compared to the average cost of a console game or even the PS Vita) mobile smartphone games available.
This is one of the reasons Sony dropped the price of the 500GB model in Japan by ￥5000 to ￥34,980. This along with PS Now (and a slew of 2016 releases by some of the biggest Japanese console game developers) is an attempt to revive interest in the PlayStation brand in the country. What’s interesting is that most PS4 sales in Japan have been to users completely new to the platform (they never owned the PS3). PS Now won’t be exclusively available on the PS4 either; it will also be usable on select HDTV’s; Sony’s own BRAVIA line as well as Samsung Smart TV’s (supplanting the need to own any PS console); one just needs a DualShock controller. And Sony Computer Entertainment Japan (SCEJ) is hinging that there will be interest amongst these customers for some of these older PS3 titles that will make its way onto the service.
If you really think about it, PS Now is a test case for future “console” gaming. Many desktop games already use a client/server model (a constant network connection is required) where the actual game engine exists on regional servers; what exists on the desktop PC is a game client that has all of the models, textures, audio, and any cinematic videos. There are some huge cons with this approach though; any sort of network outage and/or poor internet connectivity, translates into a subpar gaming experience. With PS Now, loss of network connectivity equals being booted out of the game completely (which for gamers, means a totally poor gaming experience). And given Sony’s recent problems their PlayStation Network (some of them internal issues and others caused externally by hackers taking the service down via various attack vectors), game streaming as a primary method isn’t going to be easy sell.
Myself, I’m not a huge gamer (console or desktop). But it is beyond annoying when there are network outages or scheduled maintenance windows that prevents a game from being played during those periods. That’s one of the big benefits of old style desktop gaming where it was offline and one of the largest benefits of console gaming where you can still play (you just don’t temporarily have access to PSN or Xbox Live).
For the time being, consoles are safe from the always online requirement. And there are also many console gamers who strictly prefer physical media as opposed to their digital only releases. But no one really knows what direction the next generation of consoles will go since it is still way too early given both the PS4 and Xbox One are only at the start of their life cycles. Right now, cloud-based everything is the flavor on desktops. Depending on how successful (or not) PS Now is/isn’t, that could play a factor in Sony’s plans for the PS5 (when they are thinking of potential designs and requirements).
Like PS Now in the US, the rental prices per game is ridiculously expensive (starting at ￥216 for 4 hours and scaling past ￥4000 for 90 days). This pricing structure seems to be intentional as a way to drive customers to the 1 or 3 month subscription plans (which is ￥2500 and 5900 respectively) where you can play any title all that you want. At least in the US, the service has been a decent recurring revenue generator for Sony (something SCEJ hopes will be replicated in Japan) despite some of the issues that come with these type of streaming services; more so since unlike PC games with a server/client model, even the graphics are streamed for PS Now. And this is why the service requires at least 5mb/sec of download bandwidth.
But even for some folks that have 100mb/sec download and more than 10mb/sec upload as well as sub-100ms latency, the service has proven to have issues with streaming graphics at an acceptable quality on HDTV’s. Then there is the controller lag due to network related latency. Basically, subpar gaming experience (and that isn’t going to fly for fast paced games like first person shooters) with a cost structure that is on the high side for the library of games that exist. I actually think that Sony is pricing this entirely wrong (on the high side) and that it lacks pricing flexibility on the rental side.
All things considering though, a game streaming service like this makes sense in Japan where the infrastructure is significantly better in most cities (the exception being extreme rural areas in the countryside); basically very short haul distances to data centers (which translates to lower latency and thus higher levels of responsiveness) and massive amounts of bandwidth to the edges/customers point of presence. The issue still is whether or not it can actually overcome distinct lifestyle choices in what is a generally mobile country due to the ubiquity of the rail transit system in the country.
What I believe Sony should also do is something similar they did for their Xperia smart phone line where they have an app that allows PS4 remote play when used in conjunction with a DualShock controller (they also sell a cradle that attaches the Xperia to the controller). Xperia uses Android so they can easily sanction this as an Android app if they desire (it’s been hacked anyway to work on non Xperia devices).
Similarly, they could do the same for iOS devices. The PlayStation app is a somewhat limited means of bringing the PlayStation UI to iOS (where you can view notifications, messages, edit your profile, view your trophies and friends, see what games are currently being broadcasted on Live on PlayStation, and connect to a PS4 system where you can use your device to perform rudimentary control). But they could easily make PS4 remote play available on iOS (along with selling a Sony made MFi controller).
The PS Vita works extremely well in that regard and internally its nearly identical to the hardware in the current generation iPod touch (ARM based SoC) but without a Retina style display. PS Now is also available on the Vita as well (and likely the Xperia in the future) as there is a downloadable beta of the app. It’s understandable why they are hesitant to do this for the time being though (PS4 remote play on non-Sony hardware) since these are really meant to create a Sony ecosystem. But tapping into the mobile smartphone market outside of Sony’s own Xperia line in Japan really makes sense.
As I wrote in my previous post about Apple’s recent media event, there was a time when I felt the doorway was open for less than casual gaming to be a part of the Apple TV experience once an app store for it became a reality. That was back before both the PS4 and Xbox One were released (well before November 2013) in the US. That entire ship has long sailed and recent developer documentation for the new Apple TV shows that Apple requires that any game be playable with the new Apple remote (which is not optimal for serious game play). What that means from a developer point of view is that at minimum, the I/O for their games have to support play with that remote. They would have to also have a different abstraction layer to deal with an MFi D-pad controller meaning extra design work where the game play feels right with a D-pad. That right there is telling that Apple is more than satisfied with the casual gaming aspect of iOS where it’s not going to be any kind of threat to any existing console platform.
So the way that I look at it, the PlayStation platform is not in any direct competition with iOS gaming in the living room with the Apple TV. If anything, it would be more of a co-opetition at the portable hardware level (Vita and Xperia). PS4 remote play still requires that PS4 though (as well as DualShock controller) while PS Now is a service that is essentially hardware agnostic except for the need for a DualShock controller. Simply put, this is all untapped revenue potential that still puts customers into the PlayStation ecosystem.
And this also leads to my final point. There is a matter of trust when it comes to Sony and the PlayStation platform. They recently killed off Home, ended support for the YouTube app (though YouTube is still usable via the web browser) and Maps on the Vita. Also just this week, it was announced that the Facebook app and its associated functionality for the Vita, PS TV, and PS3 would be terminated effective January 2016 (the app has already been removed from the PS Store).
The point is the removal of functionality and discontinuing services they’ve sunk money into. I can see PS Now having this same fate in the future (even though they’ve sunk a huge amount of capital into it) if it does not generate the kind of recurring revenue they’ve forecasted it to have internally. This is why I believe it will be a huge mistake if Sony doesn’t take an extend and embrace approach when it comes to PS4 remote play on iOS and Android. I can see them having issues with going that far with Windows 10 since they are in direct competition in the console space with the Xbox One.
