Sony’s game streaming service gets a test in July
Sony announced today that the open beta for PlayStation Now, the company's streaming game service that leverages cloud-based technology, will become available to PlayStation4 users in the mainland United States and parts of Canada on July 31, 2014. The service will then expand to PlayStation 3 systems from September, followed by PlayStation Vita, and also PlayStation TV by the end of this year in the US and Canada. Sony has been conducting a private beta on PS3 systems with select participants since this January and more recently with PS4, and has been working towards the delivery of the open beta while receiving constructive feedback from users. By expanding the beta to the general public, SCE will give more gamers the opportunity to experience the benefits of game streaming and also continue to collect important user feedback to further evolve the service.
At the start of the open beta, over a 100 titles covering a wide range of genres will be available from SCE Worldwide Studios (SCE WWS) and the industry's best software developers and publishers. SCE will work with its publishing partners to test various rental periods and prices, depending on how and when players would like to game. For example, there will be shorter rental periods priced as low as US$2.99, and most titles will be between US$2.99 and US$19.99. As with all content published on PlayStation platforms, publishers and developers will ultimately decide their game price points.
Furthermore, SCE plans to offer subscription options in the future. SCE's vision for PS Now is to introduce the world of PlayStation to more consumers than ever before and provide the freedom to quickly discover and play a wide range of full games on the Internet-connected devices they use every day. The accessibility of the service will continue to expand, and SCE will begin a private pilot service to people who own a PS Now compatible 2014 Sony TV in the US. Furthermore, SCE will continue to prepare for the delivery of the PS Now service in Europe and Japan. Sony will continue to evolve the PS Now service by expanding the library of titles, enhancing features, and broadening the range of compatible devices.
