Hot on the wheels of Sony's announcement of its PlayStation Now streaming service announcement yesterday, more and more details are being revealed. We've heard a bit about the specifics of how the service will work, and now Sony higher ups are putting in their two cents.
PlayStation Now will no doubt be a game changer, no pun intended. Evidence enough was the stock drop suffered by GameStop after the mere announcement of the service. But shockingly enough, Sony is actually downplaying the service. Speaking with CVG, the SCEA's VP of Marketing, John Koeller, said the service represents a "philisophical change," and is meant to "broaden the gaming experience."
"PlayStation Now's strong benefit is instantaneous gameplay because that is a problem in this industry. We've got to solve that and I think this does that," said Koeller. "We've been working towards that on the download side with Play-as-you-Download [on PS4], and with PS Now we get people instantly playing whether you're on a PlayStation, a Bravia and over time, tablets and smartphones...We've been very open and bullish on physical consoles. So I don't think PS Now necessarily disenfranchises future consoles in any way. But it does, I think, show our willingness to try and focus on content as primary. Really, again, focussing on the gamer first - obviously they want great content, great experiences. Those experiences can be had in many different places. So it's more of an open position now."
It's not just an open experience that Koeller's talking about. As much that's been revealed about the service, it's early yet, and there are still a lot of unknowns. Koeller admits that there is a plan in the works, with Sony looking to stream over PS3 games first, and as much of it as possible, "and then PS1, PS2 and PS4 to come later...PS3 will be the tip of the spear. We'll see how it scales, the business model, all those things. We have other territories to launch in over time. And then we'll start looking at how we can piece together other content."
The fee for PlayStation Now still seems to be under discussion as well, as according to Koeller, "the rental and subscription options are the only things we've talked about today. There's some work that needs to be done on this. That's why we're saying Summer." It's the beta, out later this month, that "is going to inform a lot. We're testing a lot of this now because we want to make sure that we scale it right, that we have the right types of experiences for the person that's gonna come in. So, if you look at PS Now, I think the segment that'll come in will be very active in action, shooter, sports... those types of genres that we've seen at the launch of the PS4. So we'll test and see how that works, but we want to be as diverse as possible."
While Koeller is talked about PlayStation Now's potential future, Sony President and CEO, Kaz Hirai, was more content to discuss the service's history. In a video interview with Engadget, Hirai revealed the plans for the service were always in mind, but just wasn't possible until now.
"PlayStation Now is actually something we've always talked about but were not able to deliver because of network restrictions and latency issues," he said. "We've been working with Gaikai to really deliver a PlayStation experience through the network with the least amount of latency and ease of use. What that allows us to do is not only deliver PlayStation content to PS3, PS4 [and] PS Vita, but down the road it's going to allow us to provide the same PlayStation service or content to tablets, smartphones - whether they be on android or on iPad, for example."
That goal is certainly ambitious, but not completely out of reach. As the main operating systems of smartphones and tablets, Google's Android OS and Apple may not have the best relationship with each other, but certainly the two companies wouldn't be opposed to a Sony built bridge that's focused on taking down Microsoft's Windows Phone. Again, we'll have to wait on the beta before we see if such a goal is too lofty, or within the realm of possibility.
Lastly...
PlayStation Now's initial beta is still weeks away, but Sony knew better than to come to CES empty handed. Already, a few standout games have been demoed on the tradeshow's floor, and we've got a few peeks at 'em.
First up, YouTuber Camilo Rodas put up this brief clip of God of War: Ascension.
Next, XatakaTV and Game Source have these respective videos of Puppeteer and Beyond: Two Souls.
And finally, Crazy_S tweeted these images of Naughty Dog's The Last of Us.
