Sony Will Confirm 'Aggressive' Cloud Gaming Plans Soon

Hopefully this means they finally planning to transition their console streaming from PS4 hardware to PS5s now that they have addressed their retail stock situation.

All hail the mighty Cloud^TM lest it rain down upon your misery.

I don't know, I always find it funny that it is referred to as "The".

I wonder if this will crash and burn like Stadia did.

They started off aggressive by buying out OnLive and Gaikai before the PS4 was even a thing, but since it seems people who can afford to throw money at a money pit are moving the technology along, they are almost seemingly left in the dust. I don't think they have quite the budget to go toe-to-toe in this regard, until the costs of cloud gaming drop like a lead balloon.

What they need to do is make an app that allows you to stream games you own or whatever is on PS Plus for streaming. Basically there version of the Game Pass app, no remote play.

I hope this means a cloud mobile app and maybe a dedicated handheld for cloud.

Also would be even better if we can stream games we've bought.

@Snake_V5 I wish Game Pass allowed for that but they don’t, not even for first party games. Rumor has it they are working on it, there was a store badge leaked a while ago that pointed at them doing the ground work, but they still not offering it.

It would be a big PR win if Sony beat Xbox to allowing gamers play their digitally owned games (at least first party ones) via streaming in Premium tier, of course this would mean a need to get those servers on PS5 hardware.

Streaming third party games is a huge legal minefield, as proven by services like Nvidia Now. You got to negotiate with every publisher, for every title.

I know Sony have said it wouldn't be sustainable for them to include first party games day one, but nothing is stopping them from adding third party games day one. Maybe this will be included in their new aggressive approach.

If Sony nail the cloud tech then I think they could be onto a decent thing with a streaming portable that uses both cloud streaming and remote play. Sell the handheld for a decent, mid-range budget and I'm sure it'll help cement the user base for their cloud streaming.

The thing is, they really have to nail that cloud tech perfectly for people to be interested. The current offering for PS3 games is a joke.

Sure, because that's what everyone wants from Playstation.

Personally I have absolutely no interest in cloud gaming. However if it remains a side hustle to actual console gaming I have no issue with it. Just don't go full Stadia. Never go full Stadia.

🤣🤣🤣 Surely now the CMA will need to take a serious look at this???

With cloud gaming being the absolute be all and end all of gaming's future, it seems like Sony may have an unfair advantage.

So they are just slowing adopting to the Xbox strategy, only not bringing games to PC or PS+ on day one of launches. Not a bad strategy honestly. It reaches more gamers and goes to what MS has been saying there are billions of gamers worldwide, and only around 200-300 million console players. I am interested to learn more about what PS is planning and hope they pull it off well.

They have enough cloud gaming for a lot of people though no? Remote play is amazing. What is the next step?

Man I'm sure most publisher can't wait to end single player games with this cloud nonsense, I can imagine ubisoft turn off the server for the new assassin creed (single player) the moment the sequel (also single player) come out.

@wiiware if all publishers out there, UBisoft would be the last to do that. They love to monetize their back catalog.

I could see Nintendo doing that, though.

I don't even care and never like Cloud gaming.
I only care offline kids games on PS4 / PS5 that I can play.

And what’s funny is that Sony uses Microsoft as part of its cloud solution.

All the more reason that the rumored handheld without cloud capability in the works makes zero sense.....

@Tharsman Oh yeah, I forgot about the shop. So old assassin creed games are safe then as long as people buy the "time-saver", if people stop buying then good bye server lol.

I don't know about nintendo though, maybe for mario kart, splatoon, and sport games but people still buy old zelda and mario games on switch. Sigh, let's just hope nintendo didn't care about this cloud nonsenese.

@awp69 and that sort of situation is exactly part of what the CMA was flagging.

Can't wait to cloud game via my smartwatch. This is what gaming is all about

They can talk about those aggressive cloud push all they want, but right now they can't stream PS 5 games at all and they don't let you stream anything to anything but a PS console or a Windows PC (While promoting Backbone for local remote play only??)

Right now they don't need "aggressive" they just need "normal industry standard capabilities." The lack of Plus on Android remains the only reason I don't just sub to Premium.

"We observe mobility in gaming habits to be an increasingly important trend, and the cloud will be fundamental to allowing us, or indeed anybody else, to exploit that trend"

That's funny because the Switch seems to manage mobility just fine and of anything the cloud is its biggest hindrance to that.

Still for Playstation cloud gaming probably is the best solution for such a thing, even if I'd much prefer a dedicated handheld to play games natively from them. As far as I'm concerned, I couldn't care less about cloud gaming

PS Plus also supports PS4 streaming games as an alternative to download as well as PS3 from the catalogue - and it works pretty well

I'll kindly decline anything being "aggressively" sold to me — least of all Cloud gaming as a standard.

If they want me to game in the cloud they’ll have to ensure I can do so when out on a phone or tablet (or rumoured dedicated handheld). I’m obviously not going to stream at home when I have the hardware to play natively.

Unfortunately, up until now, not only has the streaming and remote play service been poor, but I’ve not been able to use it with data, only WIFI. Basically can only use it when socialising at friends and family - which is not a strong user case.

@Tharsman GeForce Now*

Will the CMA block this too?

As I said, Sony have MANY IP's to compete in Cloud gaming to Compete with MS and any other 'streaming' service. In fact Sony have 'more' IP's, more 'history', larger Fanbase and of course, other 'Media' they can add to their 'Cloud' service to Compete.

Sony own Crunchyroll and Bad Wolf (Made TV shows like Dr Who, His Dark Materials etc) as well as their own Sony Movies/TV shows. These may not be of 'interest' to gamers, but as we have seen, TV/Movie and Game IP's are being used. Uncharted, LoU, Twisted Metal etc are not 'just' gaming IP's so Sony can use their TV/Movie IP's to make 'games' and vice versa.

What that 'could' mean is that Sony could start their OWN cloud service offering Games, TV and Movies to not only 'compete' with MS's Game Pass, but also Amazon and Netflix, Apple and Google etc. Their service, for ALL things Sony, could offer their Games as well as stream TV/Movies from their TV/Movie Library (inc Crunchyroll) so you can 'watch' Uncharted or Twisted Metal as well as play the games.

As for games, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Uncharted, Last of Us, Horizon, Gran Turismo, R&C, Returnal, God of War, Ghost of Tsushima, Days Gone, Demolition Allstars, Infamous, Destiny etc etc are all Unique Selling Points that won't be on an others 'Streaming' service so Sony will Compete on Games too and as they have a 'larger' fanbase, the chances of them becoming the #1 Cloud gaming service is much more likely than MS - even if they 'keep' ABK games off of Sony's service. Sony can attract fans of Sony Movies/TV too to appeal to a wider audience than 'just' gamers.

The question was 'never' about MS dominating or monopolising Cloud, it was always about whether 'others' want to compete in such a 'new' way of delivering games. It does 'hurt' the 'SALES' based business if you give people a 'choice' not to 'buy'. Starfield won't break any 'pre-order' records or be top of the Sales chart for the year because gamers have a 'choice'. If Sony want to 'compete', they may opt to go the 'service' route, but could also still be 'Sales' based but delay the release on Cloud so that people have to buy PS5's, buy the Game to play it in the first 6-12mnths. Then when its sales are insignificant, drop it on PC/Cloud to boost PR and give the game a 'second wind' on Consoles...

@awp69 Which was part of the reason why CMA reject Microsoft takeover attempt of activision.

As a region that had a tease once or twice PS Now might’ve been in the pipeline only to vanish without a trace,the first reaction is to look up at the sky & say "Cloud,what cloud,Jim?!"😂

Granted using cloud as the only solution for playing the likes of Red Dead Redemption, or the older Sly Raccoon or Ratchet & Clank games as they couldn't be bothered updating the PS2 emulation used back on the limited Classics range on PS4,seemed like a cheap tatic in any case!

It'll be curious just what cloud infrastructure they'd be looking to expand to,as all talk of the touted Azure deal has gone rather silent! 🤔

If it works offline... ohh it won't? Than it is not for me. I want to play my game, on my console.

I can already confirm I'm aggressively against cloud gaming.

how about being able to stream to tvs and mobile like you could years ago on psnow then they got rid if that

@wiiware

Sigh, let's just hope nintendo didn't care about this cloud nonsenese.

Not like that will stop them. Eventually, I expect things to go away from NSO catalog of legacy games. They already decided to delist the digital and physical 3D Mario anniversary collection thing, and lets not forget when they delisted the Wii U version of ... what was it? Mario 3D World? as they were getting ready to ship the Switch version.

Yea its different in that case because you already own it, but again, with NSO, we don't own anything. Whenever they see it convenient, they will pull the plug.