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PlayStation Now Library as Problematic as the Prices

PlayStation Now Library as Problematic as the Prices

The PlayStation Now beta pricing structures are bananas. Nobody is disputing that. It was a problem during the closed beta , so there’s no reason to be surprised that it is still an issue during the open beta. However, with all this focus on the PlayStation Now rental prices, people are overlooking something that’s just as important: there really aren’t any PlayStation Now games worth renting.

Let’s imagine for a moment that you’re rich. We’ll pretend you “created” Candy Crush or something. You have so much money that paying $7-8 for a week long rental somehow makes sense to you. That’s when you head over to the PlayStation Now beta, look at the over 120 games available, and realize there’s nothing worth renting. Most of the games you can rent were popular one, two, three, and in some cases even four years ago. One of the most recent releases is Guacamelee! , which would be great if the improved Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition wasn’t already on the PS4.

Which isn’t to say old games don’t have their value, or that people wouldn’t want to rent them. It’s just for the premium price PlayStation Now shoppers are being charged, you’d expect the product to be worth the money. But really, there’s nothing there people would feel compelled to rent.

Take one of the “newest” games on the service, Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I Don’t Know! I have played this game and know it is a blemish on Adventure Time ‘s good name. Granted, renting it at its cheapest price isn’t a bad idea, since people can then see it for the horror it is, but it’s a shame that it would end up being one of PlayStation Now’s newest, and as a result biggest, draws. Deus Ex: Human Revolution is an amazing game, but it’s past its prime and most people who wanted to play it bought it after the first price drop, grabbed it when it was a free PlayStation Plus title, or even picked up the Humble Square Enix Bundle for the Director’s Cut edition. I love me some BlazBlue , so seeing Calamity Trigger and multiple variations of Continuum Shift is nice, but Chrono Phantasma is the only installment I care about, now that it’s out.

PlayStation Now Library as Problematic as the Prices

The PlayStation Now beta library reads like a list of games you’d find in the $10 and $20 bins at big box stores. They’re the games that were great, in their day, but nobody would actually pay to play or rent them now. Not when so many have been free thanks to PlayStation Plus or are ridiculously cheap to actually own.

Even the indie games don’t offer any salvation. The selection is better, but I have to be brutally honest. I don’t buy indie games for my PS3, PS4, and Vita anymore. That isn’t to say I don’t play them. I just realized that it isn’t a smart move as a PlayStation Plus subscriber. I was going to buy Stealth, Inc. , but then decided to wait and got it for free in the April update. I was going to buy Don’t Starve for my PC, but then saw it would be part of the PS4 Instant Game Library and didn’t. Given how often indie games are either reduced or added to the Instant Game Library, it just doesn’t make sense to rent them. Also, with the challenges indie developers face, I’d rather just buy a game from them on the rare occasion I do.

The PlayStation Now beta has plenty of problems. Which is to be expected, since it is a beta. But people have to realize that it isn’t just about the prices of the games. It’s also about the games we’re being offered. If the rental prices were more reasonable, I think we’d see more people realizing the real problem is the assortment of games being offered. It’s only when both problems are tackled that PlayStation Now can become viable.

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