Following on from last week’s rumour, it sounds like full-game downloads really are coming to PlayStation Now later this year. Kotaku reports that starting from September of this year, Sony plans to add an option that will allow subscribers to play various PlayStation 4 titles without needing to stream them; the functionality, it claims, will work identically to PlayStation Plus freebies.
The website is citing an “industry source”, which lends credence to a recent image that was shared on Reddit, showing a conspicuous ‘Download’ button in the cloud streaming app. As expected, the functionality will be limited to PS4 software only – due to the lack of backwards compatibility, you’ll still have to stream PS3 games – but it should make the service a whole lot more attractive.
There’s no word on whether PlayStation Now’s full roster of PS4 games will be downloadable – there could be complicated licensing issues here – but we’re sure that will be Sony’s objective. In which case, the service is about to get pretty darn desirable: a combination of streaming and full-game downloads across a catalogue of over 650 games is an enticing proposition.
The platform holder’s yet to comment on any of this, but if it turns out to be true and you recently snapped up the discounted annual subscription to PlayStation Now as part of the Days of Play promotion: well done – you may very well have played a blinder here. We’ll reach out to Sony for comment, but we doubt it’ll confirm anything until it’s ready to make this official. Assuming, of course, it is.
[source kotaku.co.uk]
Comments 46
Would be a game changer for PS Now, and would get people through the door while they continue to work on improving the streaming aspect — which is clearly still the end goal.
It would actually make PSNow appealing to most of the planet that doesn't have decent internet at the price they are asking.
This would be a huge deal. Fingers crossed it comes true!
Just got a year's sub for PS Now. I don't know how much I'll use the download feature but it'll a good feature regardless. Though if they offered this to PS3 games as well I can see some complaining that "Sony is making us pay for B/C now" which of course isn't true but you know the internet.
@adf86 If they could.do PS3 games, but as we know they can't.it will just be like Xbox Gamers Pass and it has Xbox 360 games on that and nobody complains about paying for them on the Gamer pass.
Probably wouldn't get it anyway. I prefer owning my games, not just renting them. Still would be a great improvement, though.
@tasuki Yes this is true. Personally I just wish a few of the bigger companies would play ball. Would love the likes of the Mass Effect Trilogy, Deus Ex Human Revolution, Rayman Origins, Syndicate and Mirrors Edge on there.
I will definitely resub once this feature is added!
Shame this can't work for PS3 games; that's what I'd want PS Now for, and there is just too much lag for streaming to be viable for action/racing games (yes, I've tried it, and I have very good high speed internet).
So....rumor?
If this happens then im in
Well at least they are improving PS Now, shame about the PS3 games not getting a download feature
It's an interesting proposition if true. However, even if they could somehow make PS3 games downloadable and playable on PS4 via OS-integrated emulator, I doubt Sony would do it this late in the PS4's life cycle. That would make for a nice little check mark in the PS5's feature set though.
@get2sammyb it's an option that should have been there since the start, still think the pricing is steep maybe that will go down after seeing how well game pass does on Xbox
@Tasuki You don’t have to have Xbox Game Pass to play Xbox 360 games though. If there is just one 360 game you can pay for it or use your old disc. With Sony liking money you would have thought they would add backwards compatibility through downloads as it would help fill their vault so they could do their Scrooge McDuck impression. I still use my PS3 to buy and play games that I can't play on my PS4. They are getting extra money from me but are missing out from people who skipped PS3.
@Enigk As I have said countless times on this site already, the PS4 can't play PS3 games be it disc, or download because the PS4 wasn't designed to use the PS3 chip archetype.
@Tasuki But wouldn’t it be more consumer friendly to be able to pay a one off fee to rent a single game via PS Now forever (as long as PS Now is available). It can take months to complete some games so it would be nice to pay a one off fee for a game rather than pay monthly fee to get through one game. I started Watch Dogs 2, granted it’s on Xbox One, at the start of April and may finish it in the next month or two. I wouldn’t want to pay monthly for a game as it would cost me more than buying the game. I can’t be the only one with a glacial pace on games. If I played Fallout 3 on PS Now I would be bankrupt before I finished it.
@Tasuki with software emulation it can. I expect Sony will introduce it down the line, perhaps if Now becomes more successful with PS4 downloads. You can play PS3 games on a PC already.
I'm on the verge of spending 70 quid to get an old 360 to play red dead, mass effect series, portal 2 and half life 2 (as I've only really got back into gaming in thw last couple of years) but I'd give that a miss if I had decent internet to stream or download from psnow for the ps3 games.
Oh the next gen and competitive race is on. Bring it on - MS vs PS and we win. Woo hoo.
I'll care when the service comes to Spain
Only the beginning... next gen consoles will be prob digital only.
@adf86 I doubt any EA games will be on there because they have their own similar service don't they? I subscribed at the cheap price in the sale and there are lots of games on there, but a lot of them are games we've already had on Plus to be honest.
It's a good start and makes the service that bit more desirable but as I said before one of the biggest problems with the service (for me) is the lack of decent games on it.
@RedMageLanakyn I’d say it’s more than a rumour when we’ve got a reputable source saying it’s happening.
Could still be wrong, but there’s a lot of smoke now.
Great news. Just wish we could download PS3 games onto the PS4 through the service. Oh well.
12.99 in the UK is, in my opinion, way overpriced. especially if we're already paying for PS+
@get2sammyb "Again, I don't think it's likely at all"
So, does this mean you'll be changing your avatar again?
@adf86 If you could download PS3 games to your PS4 to play only through a subscription service, then I would say that Sony would be charging you for BC and 'the internet' would be correct. It won't happen, since the PS4 isn't powerful enough to stably emulate the PS3, but, talking theoretically, if it did I can't think of a reason to defend Sony if they didn't let your previously bought PS3 games that are on the service work without paying extra.
@get2sammyb I have two rules in gaming nowadays; everything is a rumor until officially announced on social media, and a release date is never true until a game goes gold
@rjejr No.
@get2sammyb
@RedMageLanakyn "and a release date is never true until a game goes gold"
My rule is - a game isn't truly gold until 3-6 months after it releases. Maybe 3-6 years for FFXV. KH3 is going to take 3 years. FF7R will never ever be gold.
@rjejr I should add that to my rules, a game is in beta until it received a remaster
even the best PS3 emulator for PC doesn't play most of the games, including most of sony's first party titles, doesn't boot from original discs, and they've been working at it for years. even if sony threw a boatload of resources at it, i doubt it would get a reliably stable emulator by the end of the PS4. it would have been easier to just put the Cell cpu and the RSX gpu in the PS4 from the beginning.
@leucocyte Yeah but how much would that have added on to the cost of the PS4? One of the biggest complaints of the PS3 was it's price at launch and a big part of the was because it was BC with PS2.
@Enigk I am not sure what the monthly fee is of PS Now but if it's similar to the Xbox Game Pass you would actually be saving money. Xbox Game Pass is $10.00 a month if you pay that for a year that would be $120 which adds up to the price of two new AAA games. I don't know about you but I can easily spend more then $120 a year on games and I suspect most people do as well. That's where a program like this for PS4 would be a pretty good deal.
@RedMageLanakyn In the (all too near) future all games will be free-to-start and perpetually in beta.
It will be awesome if you can download all games, but since PS4 isn't backwards compatible, it would take a lot of jiggerypokery for that to be the case. If it's just the PS4 games then whatever.
@adf86 But since, thanks to bc on the X1, you can play Xbox 360 games on the Xbox One without extra costs outside of the Game Pass, as long as you have originally bought the bc 360 game on disk or digitally, Sony effectively does make you pay to be able to play PS3 games on PS4. I know it's due to the very complex nature of the cell that we'll most likely never see a "just pop your PS3 disk into your PS4 and play" situation, but still...
It's only for ps4 games though.
Would be fantastic for ps3 games.
@Reverend_skeeve But it's better then nothing though. I'd rather Sony came up with some kind of solution. The only problem with PS Now is it's constant reliance on connections and lack of support from the big names which absolutely baffle me cos on PS Now at least they can get a cut of the revenue whereas on Xbox's b/c they probably get next to nothing in return.
@Dichotomy not exactly. only if you have the digital version of a ps3 game and sony only allowed you to play it via ps now would it be considered double charging customers. if you owned the physical ps3 disc of a particular game and sony allowed it to work via ps now, that would not be double charging since physical media has never been connected to the digital ecosystem. i.e. i have a physical copy of killzone 2 (ps3) and uncharted 4 (ps4) but that does not allow me to download a digital copy for free. i wouldn't hold your breath for ps3 games downloaded via ps now but who can say for sure. i think ps3 emulation on ps5 might be more likely due to having more power to play with (ps3 emulation is resource taxing).
@Porco I did say the PS4 isn't capable of emulating the PS3, and that I was talking theoretically. So, continuing the theoretical, if Sony can get a digital copy of a PS3 game to work on the PS4, they would also be capable of getting a physical copy to work through the same emulation. To charge either party for the convenience of not running two consoles to play games that were paid for already seems underhanded in this theoretical situation to me.
Physical media has also very much been connected to the digital world for a long time, through things like online passes, bonus content, expansions/DLC, vital patches, content patches and so on. When it first started to become a thing on the PC it was also common to get both a physical copy and a code for the digital version in the box. Given games get installed on to your console from physical media and take up 20-60GB+, I would assume there is little difference between the digital and physical versions beyond a disc check.
Never been interested in streaming games. A friend signed up to play Red Dead Redemption, and despite him having decent internet speeds, he says the image quality is garbage.
If this improves on that aspect, I might be interested.
This is great news, kind of. Where I live (You definitely don't wanna know where ) Internet is pretty messed up, lots of filtering and lots of limited options for expensive prices. Therefore, I can't stream games, not unless I cut off my budget for games and spend everything on Internet services. Being able to download games, though I want the PS3 games, is pretty useful for me and people around me.
I wish I could stream games though... no space is taken and fully digital sounds just futuristic lol.
I wish they would add PS1 games to PS4...either the PS3 way or through PSNow. Not to mention the PS2 library is seriously small.
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