PlayStation Now Announced, Access To Games Collection On Multiple Devices

Announced during Sony’s Consumer Electronics Show keynote speech, Sony Executive Andrew House revealed a new multi-platform game-streaming service called PlayStation Now. It will be a subscription-based or as a rental-per-purchase service based in the cloud that brings PlayStation 1, 2 and 3 games to multiple Sony-based devices first, including TVs, smartphones and tablets.

PlayStation Now seems to be the formal name for what we knew previously as Gaikai. We did not know that it would be this wide-spread, especially when it came to playing PS3 games on phones and tablets. Bravia TV’s will be the first of the non-PlayStation devices to support the gaming service, expanding to more and more internet-connected devices as time goes by. PlayStation Now is scheduled to come out sometime this summer, with closed beta beginning at the end of January.

This sounds like amazing news, with a big “If.” That “If” is if Sony is capable of keeping it affordable. Right now, with the surge of Steam Machines bridging the gap between PC and home console, Valve looks to bring their Steam service to a much wider audience. With that should come Steam-level prices. We do not know just how Steam Machines will take off in the “Console War™,” but if PlayStation Now wants to do better with their decades-spanning collection of games, they better make sure to be competitive in pricing.

Still, you can’t take away from what Sony are doing here. PS3 games on the PS Vita. Selling out PS4 consoles worldwide (to the tune of 4.2 million sold so far). 2014 will be an interesting year for all facets of gaming, and a small part of consumer interest will come from Sony and the PlayStation Now.

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