Yesterday, it was announced that Sony would be using newly-purchased company Gaikai to stream games on the upcoming Playstation 4. A video published last month alludes to the announcement of the Playstation 4 on February 20, and with leaks like this coming out of the woodworks, we wouldn’t be surprised at all if that were the case.
While this is certainly a big move for Sony, it is also a big risk. Gaikai was never near as big as Sony, and their framework may not be as strong or as up to date. The company was purchased in June of 2012, so maybe those long months of preparation will pay off. We’re positive Sony will make every move they can to ensure that the Playstation 4 offers all it can in terms of backwards compatibility. When they stopped production of PS3s that were capable of the service earlier in this console generation, there was an outcry from both fan and media outlet alike.
What really makes this interesting is that the streaming service will be relegated solely to the PS3 side of the machine. The new AMD chips that Sony were touting are not compatible with the architecture used in previous console entries, which means that we’ll in all likelihood see a more traditional route taken in terms of PS4 games – discs and downloadable titles.
This does however open up a large array of questions, namely that of used game sales. While this doesn’t say much in terms of how used games will be treated as far as PS4 games go, it seems that even Sony is moving away from them regarding the PS3. On the bright side, this means that PS3s should see a substantial drop in price upon the PS4’s release.
Source: TheVerge
