Many questions have swirled around Sony’s plans for using Gaikai’s tech to stream games, and the company’s CES 2014 keynote answered some of those questions with the reveal of PlayStation Now. The service appears to be focused on delivering PlayStation 3 titles to multiple Sony platforms, including the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, and “most” 2014 U.S. models of Bravia TVs. The intent is to eventually expand the service beyond Sony hardware, allowing PS Now users to access streaming game content “across a broad range of Internet-connected devices.”
We’ll have more details after we check out Sony’s booth here at CES, but the top-level bullet points laid out on the PlayStation Blog are promising:
- Play video games instantly across multiple devices, similar to the way you might stream TV, movies, and music.
- Stream full games to all of your compatible PlayStation devices including PS4, PS3, and PlayStation Vita as well as non-PlayStation devices, beginning with 2014 BRAVIA TV models and expanding to numerous other Internet-connected devices.
- Always play the most updated version of your game. With games hosted in the cloud, you can take your game with you – just log in with your Sony Entertainment Network account on a compatible device and your games and saved progress will be easily available.
Question remain relating to latency, especially when it comes to multiplayer-focused titles, as well as any costs attached to using the service. The blog post notes that users will be able to pay for games a la carte as rentals, but there will also be a subscription option “that will enable you to explore a range of titles.” A beta program will launch later in January, with the full launch “expected” for the summer.
