Sony may be preparing to bring PS5 game streaming to PC and PS4 via PS Now
A new patent shows how Sony is planning to use NVMe drives to stream games
Sony may be planning to add PlayStation 5 games to PlayStation Now, based on a new patent filed by the company.
Microsoft already lets PC and mobile players stream Xbox Series X/S games to their device using Xbox Cloud Gaming, and plans to let console owners do the same this winter.
This includes Xbox One players, meaning those on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate can actually play next-gen games on their last-gen system.
Now it appears that Sony may be shaping up to provide a similar service, according to a patent spotted by DualShockers.
The patent shows how Sony plans to group multiple high-speed NVMe SSDs together and store the same information on them, for the purposes of providing data at high speeds to a client device.
The description specifically uses games as an example, and explains how information can be sent to the user from multiple different SSDs to ensure stable performance if an SSD is overloaded or dies.
If Sony is planning a streaming network infrastructure that uses SSDs with similar speeds to that found in the PlayStation 5, then this opens up the possibility that PS5 games could be added to its PlayStation Now streaming service, which currently only offers games from past Sony consoles.
PlayStation Now’s software library includes over 700 PS2, PS3 and PS4 games streamable to PS5, PS4 or PC, and over 300 PS4 titles which can be downloaded and played on consoles.
Sony slashed PlayStation Now prices in October 2019 in a bid to be more competitive with rival streaming services. It also began adding “blockbuster” games each month, which are available for a limited time.
PlayStation Now had over 3.2 million subscribers as of April 2021, according to Sony – up from one million in October 2019.
Despite this, the service continues to lag behind Microsoft‘s Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which also offers a streaming service on top of its selection of downloadable games.
further reading
Xbox One users will be able to play Series X|S games via streaming this holiday
Xbox Game Pass hit over 18 million subscribers at the start of 2021, but Microsoft has not specified how many of these are Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscriptions.
Microsoft previously said it intends to make “many” Xbox Series X/S games playable on the previous generation of hardware via cloud gaming.
“For the millions of people who play on Xbox One consoles today, we are looking forward to sharing more about how we will bring many of these next-gen games, such as Microsoft Flight Simulator, to your console through Xbox Cloud Gaming, just like we do with mobile devices, tablets, and browsers,” it said in June.
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