PlayStation Now Rental Prices vs. Buying Full Games
We compare the lowest prices to buy several games and the amount of rental time those prices will get you.
With PlayStation Now, Sony has created an instant, on demand service for video games. It provides access to some of the PlayStation 3 catalog to PlayStation 4 and Sony TV owners, effectively giving the PS4 backwards compatibility. It's a service with hundreds of titles that you can jump into and play without having to wait for them to download.
Today, the service transitioned into open beta and we got a look at the collection of games offered. There's no subscription option for PS Now; each game is priced individually for several different rental periods. But we noticed that, for some games, it would be cheaper to buy the game used than to rent it through PS Now. To put the rental prices into context, we chose several notable games, found the lowest price to buy each game, and determined how much PS Now rental time that same amount of money will get you.
| Game | Lowest Price to Buy | How Much Rental Time Will This Buy? |
|---|---|---|
| Killzone 3 | $4.99 used at GameStop | 4 hours for $2.99 |
| Dead Rising 2 | $7.69 used at Amazon | 7 days for $5.99 |
| Metal Gear Solid 4 | $6.99 used at GameStop | 4 hours for $4.99 |
| Catherine | $13.82 used at Amazon | 30 days for $7.99 |
| Darksiders II | $15.35 used at Amazon | 30 days for $14.99 |
| Zone of the Enders HD Collection | $13.10 used at Amazon | 7 days for $9.99 |
| Deus Ex: Human Revolution + DLC | $6.82 used at Walmart without DLC | 4 hours for $4.99 |
| Guacamelee! + DLC | $14.99 download on PS4 with extra story content | 90 days for $14.99 |
| F1 2013 | $39.99 new at Amazon | 30 days for $22.99 + 7 days for $11.99 |
Of course, Sony has stated that the service is still in beta and that these prices will change before its full release. In a recent interview with GameSpot, the company revealed that it would implement a $1.99 price point during the beta for an unspecified rental period. Also notable is that, even though Sony showed off The Last of Us running through PS Now, it was not available to rent at the time of this writing.
What do you think of PlayStation Now's current prices? Let us know in the comments!
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