PSN to get 50+ new movies per week

By Ellie Gibson Published 19 November, 2009

More details of video service emerge.

Following the launch of the new PlayStation Network Video Delivery Service, Sony has revealed at least 50 films will be added to the library each week.

European product marketing director Mark Hardy told Eurogamer, "There are over 2000 films available to start with. The plan is to update the store on a weekly basis and add a minimum of 50 movies every time we update."

As announced yesterday the new service allows users to rent movies in HD and SD. At present only SD films can be bought and stored on the PS3's hard drive.

"At the moment you can only rent HD content but that's something that will change in the near future," said Hardy. "It's to do with where we're getting the content from, how we're getting it and the publishing deals that are in place at the moment - but that will change. The whole service will grow and evolve over time and more content will come in different formats."

That could include TV shows, according to Hardy. "The plan is to launch with films first but of course, in the same way we know our consumers are interested in Blu-ray discs with extras or episodic content, we will look into that later."

When asked whether the first batch of films includes the full set of Police Academy movies or whether that's also something Sony is looking at for the future, Hardy replied: "Is that a joke question?"

The PlayStation Network Video Delivery Service is up and running now with prices starting at £2.49 or €2.99 for an SD rental.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (55) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • INSOMANiAC #1 2 years ago

    What about some cross-movie chat ?

  • mcbi4kh2 #2 2 years ago

    "Is that a joke question?"

  • Fleeby #3 2 years ago

    When asked whether the first batch of films includes the full set of Police Academy movies or whether that's also something Sony is looking at for the future, Hardy replied: "Is that a joke question?"

    And this is one of the reasons I love Eurogamer. Lmao.

  • Gregolution #4 2 years ago

    lol Insomaniac!

  • Goffee #5 2 years ago

    Love the huge list on the PSP - pricing a bit odd in places, £11.99 for a current title in SD? Even the DVDs aren't that much.

  • GamesProgrammer Verified Games Team Programmer, Eutechnyx Ltd. #6 2 years ago

    so its launching with more than 7 times the films that 360 has managed to get in over a year and promising to add more than 50 every week, thats quite impressive.

  • mrpon #7 2 years ago

    Love the 1st PA film. Good question.

  • alimokrane #8 2 years ago

    @GamesProgrammer

    Not surprising given that they are part of the movie business to begin with, really. This is going to be a BIG plus for their service.

  • Skurmedel #9 2 years ago

    Meh, really want this but it's not coming here until next year :( Still... good news.

  • gjgjg #10 2 years ago

    impressive, no joke

  • butler` #11 2 years ago

    this will all come down to (and i fear broken by) pricing, pricing, pricing...

  • Mkwone #12 2 years ago

    I'm not sure how this service works? Does it stream like with music videos or do i have to download? if it streams it might be good for a bit of impulse viewing, but if i have to plan a head a couple of hours, maybe not.

  • NotSoSlim #13 2 years ago

    @Mkwone

    You can watch while downloading.

    Also pricing seems decent enough with a large selection to boot

  • dr_shambles #14 2 years ago

    That's a pretty decent catalogue. Helps that Sony own numerous film studios obviously. Pricing sounds realistic too.

  • Peew971 #15 2 years ago

    That's miles ahead of what we get from Xbox Live. It's a shame that there's so much content in the US Marketplace and shit in the European one. Hopefully that will push Microsoft to react...

  • mkreku #16 2 years ago

    I wonder.. how new will the newest movies be? Will they be approximately the equivalent of the newest Blu-Ray/DVD releases? Or newer? Older?

  • zedzee #17 2 years ago

    Isn't all this Sony just catching up with what Microsoft has already done on XBL?

    What I would really like to see from Sony is for the PS3 to have the ability to 'map' to a shared drive or a NAS box kind of set-up, so that owners can use other devices to store their content on and not have to worry about overloading the measly 120GB HDD (or less) on the PS3.

    A mapped drive/NAS connection would benefit not only the consumer but also, it might give a decent boost to NAS device sales and it will stop Sony/Microsoft from having to factor in the cost of a high capacity HDD in their respective console's price tags.

    I think PS3/X360 owners should campaign for this, much in the same way as PS3 owners demanded the in-game XMB feature and eventually got it.

    @ mkreku:

    I suspect that they will be in the 'chain' for the release of such entertainment. Cinema tends to be first. Then out to rent the DVD/BRD. Then comes the likes of Sky/Virgin/NetFlix. Finally (probably), extra rental/DLC purchases through XBL and PSN.
    Edited by 2 at 19/11/09 @ 11:23

  • brof #18 2 years ago

    2000 movies is a decent size. Compare that to Xbox, where there are about 200 ...
    with 2000 there is a good chance that there is something I want to watch

  • Peew971 #19 2 years ago

    @ zedzee: It might be just catching up in the US but it's raising the bar very high in Europe. The European video marketplace is a joke...

  • Suttieb #20 2 years ago

    Nice of Microsoft to give us Zune, some content would be nicer!
    Sony actually get 1up on us 360 owners..

  • miiiguel #21 2 years ago

    Somtimes I wish these services were available in Portugal, but then again it doesn't really matter, we have two ISP's which already do so, one of them has +3000 movies available.
    Don't you have this already in UK, prior to XBL and PSN?
    Edited by 1 at 19/11/09 @ 11:47

  • MrNyarlathotep #22 2 years ago

    @zedzee;
    Isn't all this Sony just catching up with what Microsoft has already done on XBL?

    'catching up' would imply that the video service on XBL is either equal or slightly ahead.

    'Leap frogging' or 'completely overtaking and leaving for dust' might be better metaphors here.

  • sugapunk #23 2 years ago

    It's not as good as everyone is making out as all the decent movies seem to be available to buy only (not rent)... and at a whopping £11.99 too!

  • Gregolution #24 2 years ago

    Yeah, I have to say I'm slightly disappointed. The first 5 films I wanted to rent weren't available for rent. I was under the assumption you can rent anything, but it seems the very latest releases are only available to buy which is a tad annoying. On the flip side there's looooooads of decent movies available for just £2.50 in SD. All in all, a very good service but I hope they introduce rent for everything.

  • dahsif #25 2 years ago

    In the words of The Pain:
    "I have waited long for this day".

    @sugapunk
    Ugh.

  • NotSoSlim #26 2 years ago

    So all in all barring a few niggles it's a good start?

    I am at work so can't check

  • drxym #27 2 years ago

    I'm pleasantly surprised by the price. €2.99 is actually more reasonable than I expected. But anyone who actually *buys* a movie from the service is a moron. For that price you can probably pick the DVD up from a bargain bin, and it certainly won't be tied to one service, or to one PSN id, or to a couple of devices made by one manufacturer.

  • justsomeone #28 2 years ago

    i still don't get these download services, because many people continue to be on an ISP deal with "unlimited broadband" that has a "fair use" restriction that kicks in at around 3GB for some, thereby cutting you off or throttling your bandwidth.

    it seems to me that these services, although excellent in principle, are still a little too far ahead of our draconian ISPs who'll prevent you from downloading more than a couple of movies per month.

  • Toothball #29 2 years ago

    Oh, I wasn't expecting this to be uttered from the mouths of Sony Europe. I'd still rather see them working harder on the games though.

  • MiniAmin #30 2 years ago

    You see lads? Competition is a good thing.

    Microsoft cannot sit back whilst a free service offers more films than XBL...

  • dr_zoidthrob #31 2 years ago

    Damn, that's a good Xbox-beating number.

    I'm confused as to what 's happened to the Xbox (Zune) marketplace - all the films have suddenly gone! (although I can get 1080p streaming, which is nice). Was going to sit back and watch The Wrestler... not able to now :(

  • zedzee #32 2 years ago

    @ MrNyarlathotep:

    I meant it in a 'me too' kind of way and if you look at it like that, it's nothing more than a knee-jerk reaction to what Microsoft announced and are now rolling out.

    Surpassing Microsoft is really beside the point, since most people will not be getting their films in this fashion, considering they will most probably be DRM-ed in some way or another, making them inflexible. I'd like to see a 5-device license bundled with every purchase, so that PS3 owners can at least transfer the film to their PSP or PC, if they wanted to.

  • sugapunk #33 2 years ago

    "You see lads? Competition is a good thing.

    Microsoft cannot sit back whilst a free service offers more films than XBL... "

    This isn't free - you have to pay to rent or buy the film. And if you're referring to Gold membership vs PSN, you don't need to be a Live subscriber to rent movies on Live so it's an invalid point really.

    Also, if you have Sky Movies, then that arguably that adds 100s of movies on-demand to the 360's line-up.

    Personally I have both consoles and I wish MS would get more studios on board because the instant-on thing is amazing, just a shame there isn't much content to try it out on.

  • groovychainsaw #34 2 years ago

    @Justsomeone - vote with your wallet, change ISP - theres plenty out there with very large/nonexistent monthly caps for virtually the same price... ;-)

  • MiniAmin #35 2 years ago

    @ Sugapunk

    I'll concede that's a great point.

  • kangarootoo #36 2 years ago

    @zedzee

    I agree that NAS would be nice, but bugger all people would use it. What percentage of PS3 users do you think even own such a drive? Film rental on the other hand is far more universal.

    20+ million PS3 owners out there, most of which could benefit from a film rental service. How many do you think would benefit from network drive mapping? A few thousand at best? Lets assume 20,000, which is optimistic. What is that, less than 0.1% of the userbase?

    Maybe we will get it one day, and it would be great, but it would never take precedence over a service like this.



    And as for whether anyone is copying anyone else. ZZZZzzzzzzz
    Who cares dude, really, who cares.

  • hyperkineticninja #37 2 years ago

    One question, if you are English, but live in Spain...what languages will these be in?

  • Ryze #38 2 years ago

    WHERE IS THIS SERVICE?

    EDIT: just found it, but Joe Public wont - if the interface isn't clear enough.
    Edited by 1 at 19/11/09 @ 15:08

  • oreillymj #39 2 years ago

    ok, what's the story with the video store in Ireland?

    Now that the French have cheated their way to the World cup, I'll have some spare TV viewing hours next summer.

  • almighty-slayer #40 2 years ago

    @Rize

    I think the fact that it is under the "Video" XMB category makes it obvious/annoying to be fair

  • zedzee #41 2 years ago

    @ kangarootoo:

    Network mapping would resolve a great deal of the storage issues that people are experiencing with their consoles and would, quite possibly, put an end to that debate, as well as help the console vendors in their pricing strategy, free of concerns for pricing in bigger and bigger HDD capacities.

    It really shouldn't be technical impossible to achieve; I'm sure a firmware update would be in line to introduce such a feature, with possibly third parties picking up the challenge to offer such devices and make them even more user-friendly than the ones currently on the market.

    NAS devices are not an alien concept in the PC world. They also make a great deal of sense, when you consider the PC, the odd console or three, hand-helds, set top boxes, MP3 players and so on can all benefit from such a central hub. Coupling this with many NAS devices acting as FTP/HTTP and streaming servers, and you're potentially looking at a central hub that all home devices can utilise.

    I agree that some people prefer to simply rent - I don't think that's ever been a problem for concerns over storage - and that market will I'm sure be served just fine by this feature that Sony is introducing. However, more people prefer to own what they're purchasing and if a convenient way (like a NAS device) means they can keep their purchases centrally and not worry about running out of HDD space on their consoles, then I'm sure the ability to map the PS3 to a NAS device would be great.

    As for the "whether anyone is copying anyone else", well, of course it matters. If one vendor is simply copying the other, then they're not innovating and distinguishing themselves. If they're simply copying each other then they're not being competitive and offering anything interestingly new.

    If you think "who cares", then you might as well go down to Blockbusters or rent on-line from NetFlix or someone else like that - I'm sure there's plenty on offer, so then what would be the point of Sony and Microsoft offering the same thing through their respective consoles at all?

  • Accordi0n #42 2 years ago

    the only problem i have is why are the latest releases SD only?

  • jefranklin18 #43 2 years ago

    Happy to be corrected on this, but aren't NAS devices (consumer ones) NTFS formatted by default and that is proprietary to M$?

    As for storage being an issue, you can add 320GB for £40 without the need for anything hanging off the side of your PS3 so it's not a massive issue, IMO. If you want to use existing storage, there is that PS3 Media Server PC software available, not really played with it but seemed to work fine with my NAS.

  • freakzilla #44 2 years ago

    50+ a week? I hope none of you actually believe that stuff.

  • freakzilla #45 2 years ago

    @gamesprogrammer Might have something to do with the fact that Sony are in the film industry and MS aren't.

  • owl #46 2 years ago

    the selection of films is pretty impressive already - lots of new stuff, a good few left-fielders and a very nice selection of terrible horror (leprechaun 4- in space, leprechaun 5 - in the hood, troll 2 oh my gooooosssssssshhh : D )

    much better than i actually hoped it would be

  • Bravestinsane #47 2 years ago

    wow this kicks the xbox's arse, well done sony wished i had a ps3 the rental prices seem on par with rental stores as well so thats a good move.

    Wished xbox would add a few more films though, the new 1080p is pretty cool but there is only shit films lol

  • jpj84 #48 2 years ago

    Zedzee: I stream from my NAS to my PS3 using Twonkymedia. Unfortunately, the software is now desupported. And it's fairly flaky.

    I'd be all for 'mapping' my NAS in the XMB - not sure how feasible it is though.

  • NorUraeus #49 2 years ago

    @Zedzee: Well stuff like the free DLNA based ps3media server do in practice let you use an external network machine for storage. But remember on the PS3 you can buy any 2.5 inch HD and put in and also connect any USB drive, so adding even local storage is simple.

  • Greebo #50 2 years ago

    Dammit - I want the PS3's movie selection with 360s' Zune movie streaming technology and LoveFilm's prices!
    Edited by 1 at 19/11/09 @ 23:19

  • Grayvern #51 2 years ago

    £11.99-£13 is the average price of a just released dvd in most shops. Thats why If im not buying a blu ray i just stay a bit behind and buy £6 quid dvds from morrisons or tescos.

  • TitusCrow #52 2 years ago

    When asked whether the first batch of films includes the full set of Police Academy movies or whether that's also something Sony is looking at for the future, Hardy replied: "Is that a joke question?"

    not to me! its a deal breaker! :)

  • vegard #53 2 years ago

    MS have some work to do now, i'm glad sony raised the bar for this kind of service.

    and i still think the videos for rent on xbl are too expensive, 6,8 euros is too much for my liking.

  • zedzee #54 2 years ago

    @ jefranklin18:

    "aren't NAS devices (consumer ones) NTFS formatted...?"

    They could be, but it won't matter if you implement NFS. This allows for 'translation' between, say, Linux-based file systems and NTFS. NFS and open source software like Samba, Sony could implement a Samba client on the PS3 and, easily - most NAS devices (or Sony could approve a list or have their third party partners produce endorsed products) - the NAS box could run the server.

    @ jpj84:

    There you go, so it's not impossible - it can be done. A shame that software you mention is no longer supported.

    @ NorUraeus:

    What I'd like to see is not something that "hangs off" the PS3 or inconvenience the consumer of having to upgrade the HDD manually. While this is, presumably, easy to do (back-up your current drive and restore to a new and bigger one) for the average and above person, I'm not sure how someone who is not technical might contend with such a procedure?

    Do they know they can upgrade their HDD?
    Do they know how to back it up first?
    Do they know what type and model to buy?
    Who would install it for them? Would they have to send off their unit? How much will it cost for the whole procedure?

    However, having an endorsed NAS device, that connects to the home wireless router/switch (not the PS3 itself), would mean that PS3 owners can connect to the NAS box and stream whatever they want from it; games and saves, PSN stuff, photos, music, films (from the Sony service or otherwise) etc.

    It would become a central hub and even other devices in the home (PSP, set-top box, XBox etc) can all hopefully manage to do the same thing. I'm betting Microsoft has this feature already, it's just not been popularised or advertised, as they usually tend to implement a full OS for the XBox series. But even if they don't, they should be seriously considering it, as this would really open up a new front on the battle with Sony and Nintendo for the heart of the home server.

  • Ryze #55 2 years ago

    @almighty-slayer

    That's the point - it wasn't on Thurs morning, nor was it under - Playstation Store > Videos