Sony president Andrew House announced at the CES in Las Vegas Tuesday that the company plans to cloud-stream many of their classic game titles as a part of a new service which they will offer, Playstation Now, across devices like their Bravia TVs from 2014 on, Vita, mobile devices, and Playstation 4 systems.
As a preview of their new service, Playstation Now, Sony is streaming these titles to the Bravia and Vita televisions — Quantic Dream’s Beyond: Two Souls, Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us, Puppeteer and God of War: Ascension. Playstation Now will combine video on demand and live programming, as well as past Playstation game titles.
Sony was mum about other titles that they will offer, but did say that the names of the games would be released in a Playstation catalog when the service launches.
How much will Sony charge for their Playstation Now service?
Sony has not mentioned what they will charge for the Playstation Now service. However, consumers will, according to the company, be given the option of renting games one at a time or to purchase a subscription to allow them to play all available games offered.
Sony’s Andrew House added that the Playstation Now games will allow both current fans and people new to the gaming platform “to engage in the world of Playstation.” House also said that Sony will be offering a cloud-streaming TV service to the United States later in 2014.
Though the full Playstation Now service won’t be launched until the summer of 2014, a beta version will be available around the end of this month.
Sony’s decision to stream some of their past Playstation 1, 2, and 3 games comes because the Playstation 4 system doesn’t have backwards compatibility. Also, in preparation for their Playstation Now plans, Sony purchased streaming company Gaikai for $380 million in the summer of 2012, and announced in February 2013 about possible future plans to stream Playstation 3 games to the new Playstation 4 platform.
Lack of an established broadband structure is likely to make Sony’s Playstation Now plans inaccessible outside of the United States for the time being.
Playstation 4, despite lacking backwards compatibility, was a big hit with consumers last Christmas, selling 4.2 million units through December 28, 2013. Playstation 4 became available to purchase in mid November. In the first two weeks it was on sale, over 2 million units were sold.
Though Sony has had lots of success with their Playstation 4, the entertainment and electronics company has not enjoyed the same sort of success lately with their movies. Sony reported quarterly losses lately which has spurred restructuring rumors and doubts in the minds of investors about whether they should invest in the company.
Sony and Playstation, House was quick to assure, has a strong fan base, with there being 70 million Sony devices in the United States. Also, the number one device around the world for watching Netflix is the Playstation 3, so Sony will likely be a major force in the entertainment, electronics, and gaming industries for a long time to come. Will you become a subscriber of Playstation Now? If you think that you will — or won’t — please say why or why not, and leave your comments below!
Written by: Douglas Cobb
GameSpot.com
USAToday.com
Polygon.com
One thought on “Playstation Now Debuted at CES by Sony President House”
I think that PlayStation now should be free for PlayStation plus members
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