PlayStation Now Vs Used Games: Which Wins?
If you’re lucky enough to be in the PlayStation Now closed Beta, you may have noticed that Sony has added prices for the various rental packages in the service, either £4.99 for two days and £9.99 for 30 or £2.99 for two and £7.99 for 30, depending on the game in question.
We at God is a Geek have always been about putting the consumer first, and I’ve taken a look at the prices of games in the service against what a used copy costs at high street store CEX.
| Game: | 2 Day | 30 days | Price used: |
|---|---|---|---|
| Uncharted 2 | £4.99 | £9.99 | £4 |
| Mass Effect 2 | £4.99 | £9.99 | £4 |
| Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition | £4.99 | £9.99 | £4 |
| The Sims 3 | £4.99 | £9.99 | £15 |
| Dirt 3 | £4.99 | £9.99 | £8 |
| Uncharted | £4.99 | £9.99 | £5 |
| inFamous 2 | £4.99 | £9.99 | £5 |
| Saints Row 2 | £4.99 | £9.99 | £2.50 |
| Dead Island | £4.99 | £9.99 | £3 |
| Darksiders | £4.99 | £9.99 | £4 |
| God of War Ascension | £4.99 | £9.99 | £6 |
| Motorstorm Apocalypse | £4.99 | £9.99 | £4 |
| Final Fantasy XIII | £4.99 | £9.99 | £5 |
| Warhawk | £2.99 | £7.99 | £2 |
| Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen | £4.99 | £9.99 | £7 |
| Sniper Ghost Warrior | £4.99 | £9.99 | £6 |
| Dirt Showdown | £4.99 | £9.99 | £5 |
| Operation Flashpoint: Red River | £4.99 | £9.99 | £2.50 |
| Sniper Elite V2 | £4.99 | £9.99 | £10 |
As you can see, the prices for a used copy hover around the two day rental mark. In total it would cost you £92.81 to rent each game for two days, and only £10 more to buy them all second hand. You could argue that it’s for people who don’t have a PlayStation 3, but you can pick a second hand one of them up from the same shop for £65, which gives a total of £167, £20.81 cheaper than renting all of those games for a month. That’s just ridiculous.
In a statement to Eurogamer, a Sony spokesman said: “Final pricing for when PS Now fully launches has not been confirmed yet but we’ll continue to listen to gamer feedback on this subject.
“PS Now is an evolving service and user feedback will be a key part of our service design decisions, including content and pricing.” Even so, it’s a pretty astronomical starting point. and then of course there’s the subscription needed to use the service in the first place. No UK pricing has been revealed so far, but in the US it’s $19.99 for a month, and $44.99 for three.
Let us know in the comments how you feel about the services’ pricing.
Dan Naylor
Hi all, I'm Dan 'Nailz' Naylor, News Editor for the site (and I've just realised there's a pleasing alliteration to that). Almost all the news posts you see on the site are either by me or written because I say so, and we try to make them a little more interesting than a regurgitated press release so I hope you think we're succeeding.
Normally I'll be sinking my time into the latest RPG, but I'll play almost anything, with racing games a particular favourite. Owner of a Wii U, I have no regrets purchasing the console, though Smash Bros. hasn't left the disc tray since Christmas.
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