PS4 hits 18 million sales, with PlayStation Now subscriptions to launch next week

Scorpus

Posts: 2,156   +238
Staff member

Sony has announced that worldwide sales for the PlayStation 4 have topped 18.5 million, with 4.1 million of those sales occurring during the holiday shopping season from late November to early January. The company also revealed 81.8 million PS4 games have been sold overall, and that PlayStation Plus subscribers now top 10.9 million.

Speaking of subscription services, Sony is planning to launch PlayStation Now subscriptions in the United States and Canada next week, on January 13. The service, initially available for the PlayStation 4, will allow you to stream as many PS3 games as you like without having to download or install anything.

Subscriptions will be available for $19.99 per month, or $44.99 for three months. The rental service, which has been available for several months, will continue to be available, allowing users to rent single games if they don't want to shell out for unlimited access.

PlayStation Now currently contains over 100 PS3 titles, which may not be the full library of nearly 800 games, but you'll find many of your favorite titles are available. Supported games range from exclusives like God of War: Ascension and Killzone 3, to wide releases like Dead Space 3, Saints Row IV and Dirt 3.

Permalink to story.

 
This is the plan they should have launched with. $20/mo. with unlimited access makes the service cheaper than buying most of the library used. That said, this only retains value if they can continue to improve the library. As it stands now, the selection they have available doesn't make sense for more than a couple months of subscription.
 
Great, so Sony found a way to make us pay to play our old PS3 games, and who thought backwards compatibility was removed because of technical challenges. Not at all it would seem, it was just another ploy to make their customers fork over money for games they potentially already own. It would be too convenient to allow us to put in our old PS3 discs and have them authenticate with the server allowing us the play our games, that we physically own, already paid for... Otherwise this is clearly a cry for help due to lack of available content, can anyone name more than 5 games that are next gen exclusive and actually good? Hell I had to rebuy GTA 5 to give it a reason to be turned on, yet I actually use my PS3 more due to it supporting media streaming and I have games worth playing on it. Which clearly Sony has their own agenda for these two things, Playstation Now replaces backwards compatibility, cost money, Video Unlimited replaces the media streaming feature, cost money, playing online now also cost money. Then when you do want to buy a new game game, it cost $80 after tax, and they try to sell you on ordering DLC in hope the game is actually worth playing. I think congratulations are in order here, for making the generation with the cheapest hardware/worse games the most expensive to buy in to. Way to go Sony, you clearly took Microsoft advice and put profit before the customer.
 
Great, so Sony found a way to make us pay to play our old PS3 games, and who thought backwards compatibility was removed because of technical challenges. Not at all it would seem, it was just another ploy to make their customers fork over money for games they potentially already own. It would be too convenient to allow us to put in our old PS3 discs and have them authenticate with the server allowing us the play our games, that we physically own, already paid for... Otherwise this is clearly a cry for help due to lack of available content, can anyone name more than 5 games that are next gen exclusive and actually good? Hell I had to rebuy GTA 5 to give it a reason to be turned on, yet I actually use my PS3 more due to it supporting media streaming and I have games worth playing on it. Which clearly Sony has their own agenda for these two things, Playstation Now replaces backwards compatibility, cost money, Video Unlimited replaces the media streaming feature, cost money, playing online now also cost money. Then when you do want to buy a new game game, it cost $80 after tax, and they try to sell you on ordering DLC in hope the game is actually worth playing. I think congratulations are in order here, for making the generation with the cheapest hardware/worse games the most expensive to buy in to. Way to go Sony, you clearly took Microsoft advice and put profit before the customer.

10/10. Perfect caricature of a console gamer who doesn't understand the differences between backwards compatibility and streaming technology.
 
Great, so Sony found a way to make us pay to play our old PS3 games, and who thought backwards compatibility was removed because of technical challenges. Not at all it would seem, it was just another ploy to make their customers fork over money for games they potentially already own. It would be too convenient to allow us to put in our old PS3 discs and have them authenticate with the server allowing us the play our games, that we physically own, already paid for... Otherwise this is clearly a cry for help due to lack of available content, can anyone name more than 5 games that are next gen exclusive and actually good? Hell I had to rebuy GTA 5 to give it a reason to be turned on, yet I actually use my PS3 more due to it supporting media streaming and I have games worth playing on it. Which clearly Sony has their own agenda for these two things, Playstation Now replaces backwards compatibility, cost money, Video Unlimited replaces the media streaming feature, cost money, playing online now also cost money. Then when you do want to buy a new game game, it cost $80 after tax, and they try to sell you on ordering DLC in hope the game is actually worth playing. I think congratulations are in order here, for making the generation with the cheapest hardware/worse games the most expensive to buy in to. Way to go Sony, you clearly took Microsoft advice and put profit before the customer.

10/10. Perfect caricature of console gamer who doesn't understand the differences between backwards compatibility and streaming technology.

Either way. They did not include backwards compatible technology with the system, could they have? Maybe not at launch. Do that have a reason to do so in the future? Not really, they have found a way to *technically* allow old games to be played. This way, they get to charge you for it :D

EDIT: Yes this allows you to play new games...I for one, don't give a ****. I would just want to play games that I already own. In addition, I hate streaming models, when you stop paying. You don't get to play anymore. That is sacrilegious =P
 
Last edited:
Either way. They did not include backwards compatible technology with the system, could they have? Maybe not at launch.

Try, not at all. There are only two ways they could have included backwards compatibility with the PS4: (1) additional hardware or (2) emulation. In the case of (1), that would increase the cost of the PS4, making it less competitive against the XBO and/or financially unviable. In the case of (2), the PS4 doesn't have the specs to perform PS3 emulation.

Do that have a reason to do so in the future? Not really, they have found a way to *technically* allow old games to be played. This way, they get to charge you for it :D

You're charged for every feature, service, button, and sticker included with the system. If console gamers want to continue to have a Playstation, Sony has to deliver a console that doesn't put the division out of business. Speculate what you will about the financial role of the Playstation 1-4 in Sony's books, ritual sacrifice of capital to appease a minority market is just that -- ritual sacrifice. We all know how well that worked out for Sega.
 
Great, so Sony found a way to make us pay to play our old PS3 games, and who thought backwards compatibility was removed because of technical challenges. Not at all it would seem, it was just another ploy to make their customers fork over money for games they potentially already own.
Then enlighten us all on how was Sony supposed to provide backward compatibility for their old PowerPC-based software on their new x86-based system, genius.
And while we're at it, why don't we just run ARM, PowerPC, POWER and SPARC software on our Windows PCs? Because apparently every CPU can run every piece of software there is, regardless of whether they use the same ISA or not.
 
Exactly. its not like you could go and get quake 2 running on something like a scope, or win 95 running on a smart watch with little more than curiosity........
 
Exactly. its not like you could go and get quake 2 running on something like a scope, or win 95 running on a smart watch with little more than curiosity........
Oh, yeah, that's totally the same thing! It's not like both examples are about very old software with very small performance requirements for today's standards, which you can't compare to a modern, heavily 3D-accelerated video game, is it?
Also, suggesting emulation to offer backward compatibility is just comical. Not only because the PS4 simply lacks the processing power to do it, but also because it comes with compromises. Or do you actually believe that running Quake 2 on a osciloscope provides the same experience as actually running it as intended? Do you think Windows 95 on a smartwatch is ither a actual, usable smartwatch or and actual, usable Windows 95 PC? And is that the kind of solution you expect Sony to offer?
 
Great, so Sony found a way to make us pay to play our old PS3 games, and who thought backwards compatibility was removed because of technical challenges. Not at all it would seem, it was just another ploy to make their customers fork over money for games they potentially already own.
Then enlighten us all on how was Sony supposed to provide backward compatibility for their old PowerPC-based software on their new x86-based system, genius.
And while we're at it, why don't we just run ARM, PowerPC, POWER and SPARC software on our Windows PCs? Because apparently every CPU can run every piece of software there is, regardless of whether they use the same ISA or not.

You, sir know what you're talking about. It's shocking how many people think that making PS3 games run on the PS4 is just a matter of "porting" them so to speak. The Cell Broadband Engine (in the PS3) is totally different from the Jaguar unit used in the PS4 and the instruction set is completely different, meaning that if a PS3 game were to be made to work on the PS4, its game engine needs to be completely rewritten from the ground up to support the PS4's x86 instruction set. So, Sony not opting to advertise backward compatibility is understandable given how complex the game developer's task is going to be to bring a game written for the PS3 to the PS4. Believe it or not, not everything is a conspiracy you know..
 
Back