Title: Cloud gaming review using Playstation Plus | |
Author: Solène | |
Date: 13 March 2024 | |
Tags: gaming network | |
Description: In this article, I'm sharing my experience playing video | |
games with the cloud gaming service Playstation Plus | |
# Introduction | |
While testing the cloud gaming service GeForce Now, I've learned that | |
PlayStation also had an offer. | |
Basically, if you use a PlayStation 4 or 5, you can subscribe to the | |
first two tiers to benefit some services and games library, but the | |
last tier (premium) adds more content AND allows you to play video | |
games on a computer with their client, no PlayStation required. I | |
already had the second tier subscription, so I paid the small extra to | |
switch to premium in order to experiment with the service. | |
PlayStation Plus official website | |
# Game library | |
Compared to GeForce Now, while you are subscribed you have a huge game | |
library at hand. This makes the service a lot cheaper if you are happy | |
with the content. The service costs 160$€ / year if you take for 12 | |
months, this is roughly the price of 2 AAA games nowadays... | |
# Streaming service | |
The service is only available using the PlayStation Plus Windows | |
program. It's possible to install it on Linux, but it will use more | |
CPU because hardware decoding doesn't seem to work on Wine (even | |
wine-staging with vaapi compatibility checked). | |
There are no clients for Android, and you can't use it in a web | |
browser. The Xbox Game Pass streaming and GeForce now services have | |
all of that. | |
Sadness will start here. The service is super promising, but the | |
application is currently a joke. | |
If you don't plug a PS4 controller (named a dualshock 4), you can't use | |
the "touchpad" button, which is mandatory to start a game in Tales of | |
Arise, or very important in many games. If you have a different | |
controller, on Windows you can use the program "DualShock 4 emulator" | |
to emulate it, on Linux it's impossible to use, even with a genuine | |
controller. | |
A PS5 controller (dualsense) is NOT compatible with the program, the | |
touchpad won't work. | |
DualShock4 emulator GitHub project page | |
Obviously, you can't play without a controller, except if you use a | |
program to map your keyboard/mouse to a fake controller. | |
# Gaming quality | |
There are absolutely no settings in the application, you can run a game | |
just by clicking on it, did I mention there are no way to search for a | |
game? | |
I guess games are started in 720p, but I'm not sure, putting the | |
application full screen didn't degrade the quality, so maybe it's 1080p | |
but doesn't go full screen when you run it... | |
Frame rate... this sucks. Games seem to run on a PS4 fat, not a PS4 | |
pro that would allow 60 fps. On most games you are stuck with 30 fps | |
and an insane input lag. I've not been able to cope with AAA games | |
like God of War or Watch Dogs Legion as it was horrible. | |
Independent games like Alex Kidd remaster, Monster Boy or Rain World | |
did feel very smooth though (60fps!), so it's really an issue with the | |
hardware used to run the games. | |
Don't expect any PS5 games in streaming from Windows, there are none. | |
The service allows PlayStation users to play all games from the library | |
(including PS5 games) in streaming up to 2160p@120fps, but not the | |
application users. This feature is only useful if you want to try a | |
game before installing it, or if your PlayStation storage is full. | |
# Cloud saving | |
This is fun here too. There are game saves in the PlayStation Plus | |
program cloud, but if you also play on a PlayStation, their saves are | |
sent to a different storage than the PlayStation cloud saves. | |
There is a horrible menu to copy saves from one pool to the other. | |
This is not an issue if you only use the stream application or the | |
PlayStation, but it gets very hard to figure where is your save if you | |
play on both. | |
# Conclusion | |
I have been highly disappointed by the streaming service (outside | |
PlayStation use). The Windows programs required to sign in twice | |
before working (I tried on 5 devices!), most interesting games run | |
poorly due to a PS4 hardware, there is no way to enable the performance | |
mode that was added to many games to support the PS4 Pro. This is | |
pretty curious as the streaming from a PlayStation device is a stellar | |
experience, it's super smooth, high quality, no input lag, no waiting, | |
crystal clear picture. | |
No Android application? Curious... No support for a genuine PS5 | |
controller, WTF? | |
The service is still young, I really hope they will work at improving | |
the streaming ecosystem. | |
At least, it works reliably and pretty well for simpler games. | |
It could be a fantastic service if the following requirements were met: | |
* proper hardware to run games at 60fps | |
* greater controller support | |
* allow playing in a web browser, or at least allow people to run it on | |
smartphones with a native application | |
* an open source client while there | |
* merged cloud saves |