PlayStation Now (PS Now) is a cloud gaming service developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The platform allows users to pay for access to a selection of original PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 titles on either a per-game basis or via a subscription, with rumors of offering PlayStation, PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable titles in the future.
Non-PlayStation devices will need a DualShock 3 or 4 controller for the service, as Sony believes that the games have been designed and best played with the DualShock interface in mind, while PlayStation brand devices can use their respective native game controllers. Sony also recommends that players have a 5 Mbps internet connection at least to achieve what they consider good performance. To implement the service Sony created a single motherboard equivalent to 8 PS3 console units into a server rack to allow the games to function, as opposed to Software emulation due to architectural complexity.
On February 17, 2017, Sony announced it would discontinue PlayStation Now on PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation TV, Sony Bravia televisions (modeled between 2013-15), Sony Blu-ray players and all Samsung televisions by August 15, 2017.
Launch
PlayStation Now was announced on 7 January 2014 at the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show. At CES, Sony presented demos of The Last of Us, God of War: Ascension, Puppeteer and Beyond: Two Souls, playable through PS Now on Bravia TVs and PlayStation Vita. The closed beta began in the United States on January 28 with PS3, and on May 19 was extended to PS4.
PlayStation Now was launched in Open Beta in the United States and Canada on PS4 on July 31, 2014, on PS3 on September 18, 2014, on PS Vita and PS TV on October 14, 2014, with support for select 2014 Bravia TVs coming later in the year. At Gamescom 2014, SCE announced that PS Now would arrive in Europe in 2015, with the United Kingdom to be the first European country to access the service. On December 24, 2014, Sony announced the PlayStation Now would expand to the other electronic brands.
On CES 2015, Sony confirmed that PlayStation Now would arrive in the North America on PS4 as full release on January 13, 2015. On March 7, 2015, it was revealed that the PlayStation Now was accessible in Europe. Official beta invites for Europe started going out to PS4 owners on April 15, 2015. On February 15, 2017, Sony announced that the discontinuation of the service across several devices such as PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation TV, 2013-2015 Sony Bravia TV models, Sony Blu-ray player models, and Samsung TV models will take effect on August 15, 2017 with the 2016 Sony Bravia TV models compatibility discontinuing on April 1, 2017.
Games
Currently all of the games available to stream in PlayStation Now are PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 games. There are over 400 such games available to stream on the PlayStation Now Open Beta service as of mid-2015, and new games are being added each week. Also as of 2015, there are two ways to stream games in PlayStation Now, either as a subscription based service like Netflix, allowing unlimited access to all games covered by the subscription model, or users can rent games individually as can be done previously, usually available to rent in one of four time-frames: 4-hour, 7-day, 30-day, and 90-day. There are two pricing options in North America for the subscription service: $19.99 for one month, and $44.99 for three months.
See also
- Remote Play
References
External links
- Official website
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