Why is PSN a Platform but PS Now isn't?

It seems like a disparity to me that Steam, OnLive and PlayStation Now are not Platforms (in the wiki, they are considered Concepts).

Should this be changed, or is there some reason why they are only concepts?

PlayStation Network and Xbox Live are both considered Platforms, even though these are fundamentally identical in function to services such as Steam. The only difference between those services and PlayStation Now is the method of delivery (streaming vs. direct download)

At any rate, shouldn't these online services all be under one heading (either Platform or Concept)? I'd argue that Platform is more suitable, because they are - at a base level - a platform upon which games are hosted and downloaded (to another physical platform like a PlayStation, Xbox or PC).

Maybe you should change the thread title to Steam instead of OnLive.

Nobody cares about OnLive except me. Playing L.A Noire on my phone was pretty rad.

I don't think any of those should be platforms. PSN isn't an independent platform, PSN games could be on PS4, PS3, Vita, or on two or even all three of those. Xbox Live games could be on 360, One, or both. Steam games could be PC, Mac, Linux, etc, and Onlive just runs PC games. Those services are not platforms, and they all exist on multiple platforms.

PSN and Xbox Live are platforms because there are games made & published specifically for those services and no others, and because games get individual releases on PSN separate from PS3, PS4, or Vita. Steam is a digital distribution service, not a platform...you don't see "Steam System Requirements", it's "PC System Requirements." Likewise PlayStation Now and OnLive don't have their own releases of games, they emulate other releases...they aren't really platforms in and of themselves. When you're playing Dead or Alive 5 via PayStation Now, you aren't playing the PlayStation Now version, you're playing the PS3 version.

@mb: How is PSN a platform? Games are developed for the platform (PS3, PS4, Vita) and then simply sold on PSN. Just because some aren't sold on other services also doesn't mean PSN is a platform. By that logic Steam would be a platform since there are games that exist exclusively on steam, Dota 2 being an example. Using your own phrasing, when you play Journey you're playing a PS3 game, not a PSN game. It doesn't exist on every iteration of PSN (can't play it on Vita), so it's fundamentally a PS3 game.

That's something you will have to take up with Jeff, he is the sole individual who decides which platforms are included on the site - that includes PSN. I hope that doesn't sound too dismissive, but PSN is a platform because Jeff decided it was.

There are also four different PSN platforms, not just one all-encompassing PSN. This is all stuff that was decided many years ago, though, and nothing has changed.

@mb: I wouldn't call title exclusivity a defining factor of a platform, as most games these days have multi-platform releases. I guess I'd also argue that PlayStation Now and OnLive are actually getting their own independent release of multiplatform titles. I think of it like a port, in that it's identical in almost every way but the mechanism by which you receive it is different. The original release of Killzone 3, for example didn't have the input latency of the PlayStation Now version.

@corruptedevil: Haha, true enough!

@jeff Wanna weigh in on this? How come Steam, PlayStation Now etc. are not considered platforms on the site? It seems like a pretty arbitrary definition, when PlayStation Network and Xbox Live are considered platforms, and aside from their integration into a console, they are identical to things like Steam, OnLive, and other similar services.

In fact, OnLive was integrated into an exclusive console at some point (maybe it still is), so that seems like a prime candidate for Platform-ization.

@ll_exile_ll Perhaps there should be a "Service" category for these various online distribution services. When this site refers to platforms, it seems like it is really referring to a physical hardware+software bundle (with the curious inclusions of XBL and PSN).

I would support the introduction of a 'service' page type. These kinds of services seem too important to gaming to be relegated to a concept along with all the other concepts. Though there may be too few services.

At least on PC, Mac and Linux there should be enough services to warrant a Services category. Some stuff like GameTap also got exclusives back in the day. Wouldn't Sega Channel and maybe that Famicom Disk System download service be considered services among these too?

I think Jeff was talking about maybe making PSN not a platform anymore and simply merging it with PS3, PSP, PSV and PS4. Given that all physical releases on Vita and PS4 are also on PSN it doesn't make sense to have them as two separate platforms anymore.

Basically what I'm saying is it's more likely we'll be getting rid of the PSN platform rather than adding Playstation Now as a platform.

I think any service that allows you to purchase and download a game within its own interface and includes certain features like a friends list or offer achievements, etc. should be considered its own "Platform". Steam (and to a degree Origin) have become platforms themselves, as some games come exclusively to Steam or Origin, and not anywhere else on the PC. You can't get a copy of Counter Strike GO anywhere other than on Steam on the PC for example.

Playstation Now is just a way to accessing older games via a new interface, it is a service that is offered as a component of PSN, not a platform by itself.

PSN has exclusive games for 4 platforms

PS Now doesn't

They both shouldn't be platform imo

PSN and XBLA were made platforms at the time because it was worth having a distinction between physical and digital releases on consoles. Now digital releases on PS4 and Xbox One are treated the same as physical releases, they are just linked platform page of the console itself. I believe Jeff has mentioned before about possibly removing the digital storefronts as platform pages but you have to bring it up with him. At this point those pages have become so established that it would be difficult to remove them and transfer all the associations to another page.