Sony is bringing PS4 games to PlayStation Now, thus making them available to Windows PC users who have a subscription to the streaming service. The service currently only connects PlayStation 4 and Windows PC users with PS3 games.
PlayStation Now catalog is expanding
The PlayStation Now team made the announcement on the official blog. They didn’t provide a lot of details but promised to provide more details as the launch approaches. However, they did say that players will only need one PS Now subscription to receive access to all the games on the platform, including PS4 games after the catalog expansion is complete.
They’re starting the expansion with a “private test” of PS4 games on PlayStation Now. Not everyone with a subscription to PS Now will be able to play the games immediately, although a small number of “active” subscribers will receive an invitation via email.
No word on which PS4 games will be available
The PlayStation team did not say which games will be available after the catalog is added, although we can expect that most, if not all, of the games that were developed in-house will be available, with the possibility of some third-party titles also being available.
It also seems unlikely that the newest and most popular games won’t be available right away, so older games are more likely candidates for inclusion. Sony will probably want to hold the newer titles back for a while to try to convince players to shell out extra cash for the game instead of just using their subscription. And because PS Now is all about streaming games from the cloud rather than downloading them, it seems unlikely that games which have very large file sizes will be available through the service.
The PlayStation team also didn’t give a precise date of when all subscribers will have access to the PS4 games.
How PlayStation Now works
PS Now is a subscription service that gives players access to a full library of PS3 games. They can stream the games via Sony’s cloud streaming technology and begin playing right away without having to wait for the games to download. Currently, the platform has nearly 500 games available, so the addition of the PlayStation 4 games will greatly increase that number.
PlayStation Now also enables players to save their games to the cloud, making it possible to begin a game on the PS4 and then switch to a Windows PC, or vice versa.
Sony said recently that it will stop supporting PS Now on older gaming devices, including the PlayStation 3, PS Vita, PlayStation TV, and all Blu-Ray players and smart TVs. Service for those devices will end in August, presumably to enable the company to begin focusing on bringing the PS4 games to the service.
