Title: Cloud gaming review using Playstation Plus

	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