God of War Arrives on PlayStation Now as Sony Chops the Monthly Price in Half

Sony is dropping prices as game streaming and subscription competition heats up.

News by Mathew Olson, Reporter

Updated on 1 October 2019

Sony's PlayStation Now hasn't gotten much love as Microsoft and Google have hyped up their respective game subscription and streaming efforts, but a big price drop and the limited-time addition of some triple-A titles could give the service a boost. Starting today, Sony has halved the monthly price of PlayStation Now and is adding God of War, Grand Theft Auto V, Infamous Second Son, and Uncharted 4: A Thief's End to the service for three months.

Vice president of PlayStation Network Grace Chen announced the price drop and additions to PlayStation Now's game lineup on the official PlayStation Blog. In the US, the monthly subscription price has dropped from $19.99 USD to $9.99, and annual subscriptions have been discounted by 40% to $59.99 (a 50% savings over a year of monthly subscriptions). Here's the full list of pricing changes across regions:

US: $9.99 – monthly / $24.99 – quarterly / $59.99 – yearly (from $19.99/ $44.99/ $99.99)
CAN: $12.99 – monthly / $34.99 – quarterly / $79.99 – yearly (from $19.99/ $44.99/ $99.99)
EU: €9.99 – monthly / €24.99 – quarterly / €59.99 – yearly (from €14.99/ (N/A)/ €99.99)
UK: £8.99 – monthly / £22.99 – quarterly / £49.99 – yearly (from £12.99 / (N/A) / £84.99)
JP: ¥1,180 – monthly / ¥2,980 – quarterly / ¥6,980 yearly (from ¥2,500 / ¥5,900/ (N/A))

Sony's hybrid game streaming and subscription service has been in operation since 2014 and currently has over 800 titles from the PS4, PS3, and PS2 game libraries. About a year ago, Sony added the ability to download select PS4 and PS2 titles from PlayStation Now to PS4 consoles, but all PS3 games and all PlayStation Now usage on PC work via streaming. The new announcement notes that Grand Theft Auto V will be playable in single-player via PlayStation Now streaming, but that online features and Grand Theft Auto Online will only be accessible when downloaded to a PS4.

The four new games including God of War launching on PlayStation Now today will only be playable between now and January 2, 2020, but Chen says new limited-time "marquee games" will be added to the service each month.

This PlayStation Now price drop comes just weeks before Microsoft plans to launch the first public preview of its xCloud game streaming service, and a little over a month ahead of Google's Stadia launch with the release of the Founder's Edition. It seems like Sony is taking the push for streaming and Microsoft's subscription success with Xbox Game Pass seriously as the industry looks towards the future. For more on Sony's next gen plans, be sure to read our guide to everything we've learned about the PlayStation 5 so far.

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Mathew Olson

Reporter

Mathew Olson is a writer formerly of Digg, where he blogged and reported about all things under the umbrella of internet culture (including games, of course). He lives in New York, grew up under rain clouds and the influence of numerous games studios in the Pacific Northwest, and will talk your ear off about Half-Life mods, Talking Heads or Twin Peaks if you let him.