PS Plus Premium's Cloud Streaming Is Unlimited, But for How Much Longer?

I know there aren’t many fans of cloud streaming among enthusiasts, but I always like to remind everyone how good Sony’s solution actually is.

That’s because I think it’s a little bit underrated – there’s substantially more chatter about Xbox’s Cloud Gaming and NVidia’s Geforce Now than PS Plus Premium, despite the latter usurping its competitors in some areas.

And I feel it’s worth pointing out, in light of recent announcements from Microsoft this week, that Sony’s service remains unlimited.

Xbox has confirmed moving forwards that members of its most expensive Game Pass Ultimate tier will only be able to stream for a maximum of 15 hours per month. That number dwindles to just five hours per month for Game Pass Essential members.

(Although it should be noted, for fairness, that neither PS Plus Essential nor PS Plus Extra provide any form of cloud streaming at all.)

Microsoft says those who want to stream for longer will be able to “purchase additional cloud playtime through the Xbox Store”, and that also applies to prospective players who don’t subscribe to Game Pass.

This is a pretty big downgrade, although the company says it’ll only affect 4% of Game Pass subscribers, which indicates only around ~1.5 million players were actively using it, assuming there are around 35 million members to date.

I think this announcement is perhaps a reflection that cloud streaming is not the future of gaming that it’s often been touted as; it’s an expensive service for manufacturers to provide, and I think they’d much rather you be using your own hardware and electricity to play your games.

But I think this does make PS Plus Premium, which is unlimited in its current guise, suddenly look a lot better in comparison.

My question is: how long will Sony continue to provide this service in its current format?

The manufacturer’s been saying a lot lately that its goal is to monetise its active users as much as possible, and I do wonder whether it’ll also consider “selling” cloud streaming hours within the PS Store.

I hope that’s not the case because I don’t think PS Plus Premium provides a great deal of value outside of its cloud streaming service; a couple of retro games per month aren’t going to cut it.

What are your thoughts on cloud streaming lately? Do you use it? Are you deterred by these hourly restrictions? Let me know below.