Sony seems to be making some moves that indicate that they are seriously getting into cloud gaming. But if you’ve been following the game industry for years, you know this isn’t the first time.
In fact, Sony has a cloud gaming service now. PlayStation Now was originally built on the infrastructure of Gaikai, a game streaming company that Sony acquired alongside OnLive, when both companies failed in the market.
As it exists now PlayStation Now allows users to stream classic video games from the PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation 4 libraries. While originally a separate service, Sony unified it to their PlayStation Plus subscription, as part of their highest subscription tier.
In its heyday, PlayStation Now could be used on a variety of devices, from the PlayStation 3 itself, PlayStation Vita, and PlayStation TV, to Sony’s own Bravia televisions, Sony Blu-Ray players, and Samsung televisions. PlayStation Now was discontinued on all these platforms in 2017, but it can still be used on the PlayStation 4 or PlayStation 5.
And so we jump to now. As reported by Insider Gaming, 22 new vacancies on Sony’s job board indicate plans to open an entirely new cloud gaming division.
There are also several new Sony patents filed that refer to cloud gaming, as well as Mark Cerny, who developed the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 hardware.
This also lines up with recent rumors that Sony is making a new cloud gaming based handheld. This handheld is allegedly code-named the Q-Lite, and will be reusing parts from the DualSense controller. However, this Q-Lite handheld will supposedly use a different kind of cloud gaming technology, as it is supposedly intended for exclusive use with Remote Play.
Remote Play is a feature similar to Steam Link. You can stream your PlayStation 4 or PlayStation 5 playing a game using your internet connection. The other device can actually vary from a computer running PC or MacOS, to a phone with Android or iOS. Notably, you don’t have to pay to use Remote Play.
Sony’s earlier attempts to get the ground running on cloud gaming were genuinely groundbreaking, but perhaps a bit too early. Most consumers didn’t have the internet connection to take advantage of the feature at the time.
Through the years, they made decisions reflecting certain business realities, but clearly, they let that lead slip for Microsoft and other companies to take over.
The move also does strike a strange tone as Sony’s and Microsoft’s positions in the cloud gaming space are a relevant topic in regulator investigations of the Microsoft – Activision deal. Obviously, Sony does believe that Microsoft has a sizable advantage in that market segment.
As is the nature of competition, they are now interested in reentering that market again. Perhaps the improved market conditions and technology for cloud gaming means they’ll be more successful this time around.
