No mention of PS3 games, though
When Microsoft announced their Xbox Game Pass, it did everything that we wished Sony would do with their PlayStation Now service. Which was instead of streaming the games offered via a subscription, it allowed you to download them. No latency to get in the way of enjoying our favorite games. Now it seems that Sony has followed suit and has also implemented downloading of games offered via PlayStation Now.
Starting today, you’ll be able to stream or download games via the service. This includes nearly all of the available PlayStation 4 games, plus PlayStation 2 titles. In addition, this will also support all DLC, add on’s and whatever microtransactions that are available for those games.
Now, I know that there are those who are going to say that Sony copied Microsoft. To be quite honest, they definitely did here. If something works then people are going to see the value and try to imitate it. I have zero issues with this, especially now that I can play my favorite PS2 games without streaming them.
While you won’t need a PS Plus subscription to download games, you still need to be online. As per the updated terms, PS Now will require an online connection as it will need to validate your ownership.
When I’m offline can I play games I’ve downloaded?
Yes. However, when playing a downloaded game, you’ll need to connect to PSN every few days to validate your PS Now subscription and maintain your access to the game.
However, the service still has three flaws. There’s no mention of downloading PS3 games, which is a huge chunk of the games offered on PS Now. That and even though the service is available on the PC, the downloading option isn’t available for the platform. Meaning this update could alienate those who subscribe to PlayStation Now. Here’s to hoping that we’ll eventually see an option to download PS3 games as well. As for the PC subscribers, I really don’t see that part happening. Lastly, if you want to use the PS Now cloud saves function, this does require an active PS Plus subscription, as does playing multiplayer games.
It’s nice to see that Sony has finally added this ability, but the lack of PS3 games has soured me about it all. Please, Sony, give us the ability to download the PlayStation 3 games. Then I’d be happy to resubscribe.
Source: PlayStation Blog
