If you’ve wanted to play a PS5 game straight from the cloud, your dreams will soon come true. Well, maybe. There are a lot of asterisks with that statement!
Sony has been long rumored to make its break into cloud gaming, which allows gamers to stream their favorite games to a range of devices without ever having to download the game itself. Xbox has been in this space for years with its Xbox Cloud Gaming (Beta) service. After years of waiting for Sony to respond, it’s finally given some details of what we can expect when it launches.
In a blog post, the company announced that it is now testing its cloud gaming service. When it launches, gamers will be able to stream PS5 titles from the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog as well as any supported titles that players own. However, there are a few caveats to getting access to this service and what devices you’ll be able to stream games on.
Sony says that when it does launch its cloud gaming service — which there is currently no date for — it will be exclusively for PlayStation Plus Premium members. That means that, if you want to use the service, you’ll need to cough up either $17.99 per month or $119.99 per year. In addition, the only devices to support cloud streaming at launch will be the two PS5 consoles.
First off, we have very exciting news for PlayStation Plus Premium members. We’re currently testing cloud streaming for supported PS5 games – this includes PS5 titles from the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog and Game Trials, as well as supported digital PS5 titles that players own. When this feature launches, cloud game streaming for supported PS5 titles will be available for use directly on your PS5 console. That means as a Premium member, it’ll be easier to jump into your favorite games without downloading them first onto your PS5 console. Our goal is to add this as an additional benefit to PlayStation Plus Premium as part of our ongoing efforts to enhance the value of PlayStation Plus.
The company does say that it eventually plans to include PS3, PS4, and classic titles on the service as well and that it will share more details at a later date.
Sony has a lot of catching up to do in this space compared to Xbox, which launched its own cloud gaming service years ago and has since dominated the market. Not only are some Xbox 360 and Xbox titles included in the service already, but players can stream games to far more than just their Xbox consoles. Phones, tablets, and computers also support Xbox Cloud Gaming in some capacity since, at its worst, gamers can simply access the service from a browser. I’m looking at you, Apple.
That said, it’s great to see Sony committed to entering the cloud gaming arena. With the loss of Google Stadia, we’ve needed some more competition in the space, and who better than Sony to be that contender?
