One day soon you may be able to turn on any connected device, from a PC to a tablet to a SmartTV, and stream PlayStation games regardless of who manufactured the hardware. In a recent interview with the Japanese website Dengeki Online (which was then picked up and translated by VG247), SCE Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida claimed that Sony’s hope is to see Gaikai streaming become a true service available to all devices, not just those with a Sony logo on them.
“Speaking of the ultimate goal, we would like to deliver PlayStation games to all devices,” Yoshida said. “So we’re considering various things like PC, TVs, Blu-ray players, smartphones, and tablets. We hope to continue to expand not only to Sony devices, but even to devices other than Sony’s. This is still being studied.”
The Sony-curated Gaikai streaming service that was officially unveiled alongside the PlayStation 4, will in theory be able to stream any PlayStation game from the past, up to and including PS3 games. The PS4 won’t be backwards compatible, but Sony promises that the Gaikai service offers the next best thing.
Although Sony hasn’t given an exact date, the service will launch at some point in 2014. When it does, it will be available for PS4, PS Vita, and the recently announced Vita TV. The eventual goal is much grander, as Yoshida describes it.
“We previously spoke about PlayStation going from hardware to something closer to a service, regardless of the device,” he said. “Of course PlayStation will still be the center, but I think we would like to expand to different things.”
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