*The article was written on December 9, 2021, and the new PS+ membership service is now officially announced, which is basically in line with the rumored content. Here's a general idea of what the PS+ membership service will look like after it's upgraded.
Last weekend, Bloomberg broke the news that Sony PlayStation is about to launch a new subscription service codenamed "Spartcus", which competes with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which combines Xbox Gold membership + XGP. As soon as the news came out, it aroused the attention of many players for a while. After all, for PS users, this punch seems to be hitting the place where everyone is most itchy and most envious of Xbox users, giving a painful pain.
New services that include memberships, subscriptions, and cloud gaming
First of all, I would like to review with you the content of the breaking news. Just like the competition, this new subscription service will somewhat combine the existing membership service PS+ with the cloud gaming subscription service PS Now. According to rumors, the new subscription service codenamed "Spartcus" will be divided into three gears, the first will maintain the existing PS+ membership system service; the second will add a large number of PS4 games can be downloaded during the subscription period, and PS5 games will be added to the lineup in the future; the third will further provide cloud game streaming services and some additional Demos to play, and more aggressively, some classic PS1, PS2, PS3 and even PSP games will be provided to be played in the library.
Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier also said in the article that the service may be available in the spring of 2022, but don't expect to usher in the new game launch like XGP, but the lineup will be stronger than the current PS Now. In terms of cloud gaming, Sony is also interested in investing more resources to expand this business.
For gaming subscription services and cloud gaming, Sony responded in previous interviews by essentially maintaining a wait-and-see attitude. On the one hand, they also praised their opponents for making some achievements in this field, on the other hand, their cloud game subscription service PS Now is running in a low-key and good operation. PS Now has been in operation for 7 years from its official launch in 2014, are Sony and PS players really ready to step into a new transformation?
PS Now: Test field for Sony cloud games and subscription-based systems
If you are a user of European and American services and Japanese services, PS Now is really not a new subscription service content. Today's PS Now is a cloud game + subscription system of the collection, subscribers can play PS4, PS3, PS2 games in the content library through cloud game streaming, you can also choose to download some PS4, PS2 games to your console directly. PS Now also supports PC platforms, but all games require a gamepad connection.
PlayStation's cloud gaming technology has broken through the bottleneck. Although it is not as high as Google Stadia, which can support 4K and HDR screen displays, PS Now's cloud game streaming experience puts low latency in the first place, and the performance level of cloud games is acceptable. Games like Azure, which are relatively challenging to operate, can be played through a PC-connected gamepad to feel very close to the operation, almost the same as the downloaded game. "The Last Survivor Part II" This kind of picture and operation have certain requirements for the game streaming operation is not bad, in addition to the large turn of the perspective of the picture details will become a little blurry, the experience of playing is very smooth.
During my time using my PC to experience PS Now, the average download speed of 5 M/s ensures that the game will run well. In the PS5 experience, it is recommended to use a wired network to further reduce latency and improve the gaming experience. Overall, such network requirements are not too high, and the optimization is relatively in place. However, one day during my experience, I had a situation where I couldn't connect at home or at work, and I kept saying "The latency of the current network will make PS Now unusable", which may have something to do with the health of the server.
If you choose to download the game, this part of the experience is almost the same as XGP. As long as you're on a subscription and the game stays in the library, you'll be able to play without restrictions, consistent with the experience you downloaded from the digital version of the game you purchased. And whether you're in the cloud or downloading a game in the cloud, your saves and your trophy acquisitions are synced.
Although this service has not been launched in all regions of the world, PS Now has gradually enriched its wings in the course of several years of development and experimentation. Back in 2014, when PS Now first became public, it was just a pure cloud gaming service. At that time, most of the built-in games were PS3 games, and the servers were also upgraded and enhanced by PS3. The main player or players do not need to download whether they use Sony TV, PSV, PS TV, PS4, connect to the server to play PS3 games in the content library. With the slow development and adjustment over the years, the corresponding platform has been reduced to PS4, PS5 and PC, but the cloud game content library has also been extended to PS4 and PS2 parts of the game.
In 2018, after PS Now added the ability to download content library PS4 games, it moved closer to XGP's similar game subscription service. The frequency of content library updates has also gradually accelerated, and more PS4 masterpieces have been added to the lineup. Although the overall volume is not as large as XGP, these PlayStation exclusive content is still very attractive compared to the ups and downs of Stadia.
Cloud gaming + subscription system, is it really ready
As mentioned earlier, the PS Now Cloud Gaming + subscription experience is technically not too much of a problem. Whether on PC, PS4, or PS5, PS Now's streaming or download mechanism is already very perfect. Even for domestic players, the biggest boon for PS Now at present may be that there are (yet) no strict IP restrictions. Combined with the domestic situation, due to some well-known reasons, the biggest threshold for overseas cloud gaming experience today lies in the establishment of the network. But when I can set up good scientific surfing conditions at home and am willing to pay for accelerators, why do I need cloud gaming? Download the game as fast as you can for a better experience.
Combined, PS Now unexpectedly has some advantages over the XGPU, which has a strong lineup but cloud gaming services with higher network and regional requirements. But for Sony, the meaning of PS Now cloud gaming is not just "play anytime, anywhere", and the savior of PS players' strong demand for "backward compatibility" may be cloud gaming.
Due to its architectural advantages, Xbox has achieved backward compatibility with Xbox 360 and Xbox classic games, and has a very complete set of technical solutions to help developers transfer games, and even provide certain performance improvements. Switch has also relied on the simulator program to add FC, SFC, N64 and other classic games to support, limited by the copyright of these game lineup is relatively limited, but any subscription to Nintendo Switch Online members can experience. The architecture that PlayStation has evolved along the way is a bit more complex, and cloud gaming may ultimately be the best choice.
Looking back at Sony's compatibility experience along the way, the PS5 compatibility with PS4 games was achieved only when the sandbox emulated PS4 runtime environment in the console. PS2 game Sony also has a relatively complete set of transformation programs, which can enhance the screen, add trophies, remote control and other functions for the game, but limited by the limitations of manufacturers and copyrights, the number is not too much. PS1 and PSP games already have a good analog compatibility in the PSV era.
But the situation of compatibility with PS3 games is much more complicated, and the use of a very different cell architecture adds a lot of difficulty to Sony at the technical level. Today, the PS3 games we play on PS Now run directly on PS3-based servers, which are relatively more reliable and smoother to play. If Sony really wants to give players the classic games of the past in one go, as rumor has it, cloud gaming may be a relatively unified, once-and-for-all solution.
Although console games have developed to many classic games today, many classic games have been ported and remade to the present, but there are still a large number of games that have not been able to accompany the players due to lack of technology and support. For some exclusive games on various platforms, it is a pity that they can only be dusted with the elimination of hardware. From some players' perspectives, these old games may carry some unforgettable memories, or they may be a new opportunity to reminisce about the classics. I'm willing to pay for a classic game like this, and subscription-based play allows me to experience more games.
Sony's cloud gaming + subscription system has gone relatively smoothly and steadily, but it is still a bit behind its opponents in some functional aspects. Xbox's cloud gaming has been extended to mobile platforms, and you can play with a gamepad, and even some games have been adapted to the touchscreen joystick to operate very conveniently. The Stadia on the other end has landed directly on the LG TV, just as convenient as the PS Now on the Sony TV, without buying any additional peripherals to lie on the sofa and pick up the handle to enter the game. It may be time to burst out the power of PS Now, which has been accumulating for a long time.
Since the launch of the PS5, Sony has made drastic changes in some features and experiences. PS apps are now more social and manageable, maintaining a consistently clean style with online store pages. PS Remote Play has also completely broken free of the limitations of Wi-Fi in a recent update, and can use the 5G network to remotely connect to your console to play, with the PS5 network progress today's remote play experience has been quite reliable. And the PS+ collection series exclusive to PS5 users is also Sony's attempt at the game subscription system, allowing players who have purchased PS5 to play directly to some excellent masterpieces on PS4 through the subscription membership service.
PS Now's current development situation maintains a good momentum, but I do not recommend you to go to Japan, Europe and the United States to subscribe. Because PSN used to provide games in different languages and versions of partition servers, this made the Chinese games of external service PSN very few. Some of the new works launched in recent years may have gradually unified versions to provide unified multilingual options, but many old games will still have the situation of "Hong Kong and Taiwan service limited Chinese".
If the next step is really for Sony to launch a further strengthened cloud gaming and subscription service as rumored, I feel that Sony is ready, and as a player, I am ready for these changes.