Sony has announced a service termed as PlayStation Now, which’ll be its cloud gaming system for its latest console PlayStation 4 as well as other devices.
The announcement was made during its CES press conference. The new service will be streaming PlayStation games for the PS4, PS3 and PS Vita. It’ll also extend its features to smartphones, tablets and televisions. Amazing.
The service might very well be the cloud gaming technology it bought last year called Gaikai, rechristened to suit its purposes and products. The company also claimed that the technology is already in a functional state, and a live demo would be available at CES, with visitors being able to try out Naughty Dog’s multi-million copy seller The Last of US under this exciting new technology.
A U.S only closed beta will be launched at the end of this month, and it plans to make a public release across platforms near the end of this summer.
“The tethers that have constrained consumption for decades… soon dissolve,” says Sony CEO Kaz Hirai, stressing on how revolutionary this new service might prove to be.
The tech is tailored to work on any platform, be it Sony’s spanking new console, or a tablet or even smartphones and TV sets with little processing power. All this is possible because none of the games run locally and are instead being streamed through the cloud. It’s a similar concept to videos on popular online platforms such as YouTube and Twitch. The games are being run via powerful remote data centers, and your device is served a streamed compressed version of the same game running.
This will truly change the way people consume videogames as the restrictions of platforms and devices will become non-existent in the near distant future. It’ll be interesting to see how this aids Sony in moving more software and exclusives now that they can co-exist between all its products.
Let us know what you feel about this revolutionary new service in the comments below.