Sony Wants PlayStation Streaming to PCs, Tablets and Smartphones

[StewShearerOld]

Sony Wants PlayStation Streaming to PCs, Tablets and Smartphones

Sony wants the PlayStation brand to become "closer to a service."

Last week, Sony revealed that it would be using the Gaikai streaming service it <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/118212-Sony-Buys-Gaikai-Cloud-Gaming-Service>purchased in 2012 to launch a <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/127952-Sony-Launching-Streaming-PS3-Library-Next-Year>stream-able PS3 library for PlayStation 4, Vita and Vita TV sometime in 2014. The move elicited some excitement from PlayStation devotees who had been understandably bummed by the PS4's lack of backwards compatibility. That being said, a Gaikai-based PS3 library could just be the beginning for Sony. According to SCE worldwide president Shuhei Yoshida, the company hopes "to continue to expand not only to Sony devices, but even to devices other than Sony's."

Yoshida said that the company's ultimate goal is to help shift the PlayStation brand away from just hardware and "closer to a service." That in mind, it's currently looking over PlayStation's potential compatibility with a variety of platforms. "We're considering various things like PC, TVs, Blu-ray players, smartphones and tablets," said Yoshida. "We hope to continue to expand not only to Sony devices, but even to devices other than Sony's." For now "PlayStation will still be the center, but I think we would like to expand to different things."

Whether or not these different things will leave room for a dedicated console down the road will be interesting to see. While the considerable effort that Sony has put into the launch of the PlayStation 4 certainly suggests the company is dedicated to its success as a console maker, there undoubtedly has to be some allure to the PlayStation brand perhaps dropping consoles altogether and instead just serving up games through players pre-existing hardware. It's very possible through services like Gaikai's PS3 library that we'll be getting a glimpse of the console-less future some have predicted to be on its way.

Source: Dual Shockers


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[CardinalPiggles]

Holy shit, if I can stream PS3 titles to my PC I wouldn't need to get a PS3 at all. Glad I waited.

Problem is you'll probably have to get a Dual shock to play em.

 

[Not G. Ivingname]

I think Sony knows that the time of dedicated gaming consoles is coming to an end. They are trying to follow Steams success, and getting ready to ween off the Playstation.

 

[Covarr]

Finally, I can play all those PS3 exclusives on my PC with an Xbox 360 controller. Just what I always wanted.

P.S. Thanks

 

[Atmos Duality]

I think Sony knows that the time of dedicated gaming consoles is coming to an end. They are trying to follow Steams success, and getting ready to ween off the Playstation.

Yeah, there's already a massive push for always-online gaming to become more service-centric.

Forgive my little jab there, but after seeing and hearing what AAA publishers wants to push as the standard for the future of gaming, I have very little reason to remain optimistic.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Streaming PC games on a device that uses Microsoft's OS? Kind of awesome, even though I hate the idea of streaming. Microsoft is too fuckin' stupid to support their own platform, so Sony will simply step in and cash in on Microsoft's idiocy.

 

[Rad Party God]

So... I won't need to buy a PS3 and keep using my favorite platform, while playing all the PS3 exclusives I ever wanted to play?*.

Awesome!

[small]*Granted, I'm not a fan of game streaming, so I'll most likely just buy a PS3 instead of using Gaikai, but still... that sounds incredibly awesome.[/small]

 

[Marak Daga]

The direction they seem to be thinking about: full streaming support, seems like an excellent idea for me. Primarily because I have the bandwidth and lack of datacap.

Hopefully they release it to Japan first this time grr.

 

[Strazdas]

So i can play all those console[footnote]The only console exclusives i ever was interested in was on PS3 anyway[/footnote] exclusives i though looked great on my PC with proper mouse and keyboard? sign me up.

 

[Zombie_Moogle]

I'm always a bit skeptical when the word "service" is used like that

I liked the way OnLive handled their streaming bundle (essentially Netflix for games), but I do worry that we'll be strong-armed into continuing services forever for fear of losing the games we "purchased"

 

[Maxtro]

How much longer till we'll be able to stream PS4 games?