PlayStation Now

PlayStation Now

Even Play has its limits.

Genre:	Cloud gaming service
Platforms:	PlayStation 5 PlayStation 4 PlayStation Vita (discontinued) PlayStation TV Microsoft Windows (with an app)
Release Date:	January 13, 2015
Developer:	Sony Computer Entertainment
Publisher:	Sony Computer Entertainment

PlayStation Now is a cloud gaming service developed by Sony Computer Entertainment. The platform allows users to pay for access to a selection of original PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 games via subscription on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, BRAVIA TVs and Windows PCs.

Bad Qualities

PlayStation Now is available only in some countries in North America and Europe, as well as in Japan. As of 2020, it is still not yet available in Australia and New Zealand.
Every game's audio is in very low-quality and sometimes it makes the audio in high pitch.
The games are displayed in standard definition no matter how fast your internet is, and you often lag out of games due to them being hosted using cycle-accurate PS3 emulation. For reference, it takes a 5 GHz processor for cycle-accurate N64 emulation to run at full speed. The PS3 console is dramatically more powerful than the Nintendo 64, so it requires significantly more powerful hardware than when emulating a Nintendo 64 console.
Video artifacts and audio glitches during gameplay.
It's cloud streaming, which means you can have significant input lag depending on your internet connection, this is bad for games that rely on fast reflexes and precise inputs, especially Mega Man 10, where the Mr. Perfect trophy is literally impossible to get because of this.
OnLive, a much more stable game streaming service was discontinued so that this could exist.
PlayStation Now is discontinued on PS Vita and PS3. Trying to install it on the latter consoles causes a message saying that you need to buy a PS4 and install it on PS4 despite being available to download on PS3 and PS Vita. This forces players to buy a PS4 rather than letting them use the older consoles.
Much like Club Penguin Island, you can't start the free trial without entering your credit card details, even if you aren't paying.
Even when it got an update that lets you download games, it doesn't let you download PS3 games (though this is probably the PS3's fault since it uses a complicated architecture that's complicated even for the PS4).
It used to cost two times as much as PlayStation Plus.
They do at times add bad games like Rogue Warrior, Homefront: The Revolution, and Duke Nukem Forever just to name a few.
They started making it to where certain games would be only added to service for a certain amount of time before being removed.

Good Qualities

There is a free seven-day trial if you are new to the subscription.
Any trophies you earn on PS NOW games can be carried over to your PSN account.
It's nice to stream PlayStation 3 games on Windows computers. However, the cycle-accurate emulation mentioned above makes RPCS3 (a PS3 emulator focused on speed) more reliable on most PCs.
As mentioned, it recently received an update that lets you download PS4 and PS2 games instead of streaming it, which is great (you can't download games on PC).
They lowered the price for the service to as much as PlayStation Plus costs.
You can use a PS4 or PS3 controller (if you have one).
There are an incredible assortment of games to play and they add a bunch more every month.
It's a great way to experience games people may not have gotten a chance to play.
A lot of great games like Until Dawn, God of War, Wolfenstein, and DOOM.