Sony has announced that PlayStation 4 games will be made available to Playstation Now subscribers, with the first current-gen titles hitting the service later this year.
Playstation Now is a streaming service that, upon payment of a monthly fee, grants gamers access to a library of over 400 PlayStation 3 games. Sony has now announced that it will be adding PS4 games to the service. They have yet to specify which titles will be made available, but it seems likely that these will be older titles rather than recent releases. The company stated:
“We’re excited to announce that PS Now’s catalog is set to grow even further, as we’ll be expanding to include a new platform: PlayStation 4 games. All of the games in the service, including PS4 games, will be included with a single PS Now subscription. We’ll share more information as we get closer to launch, so stay tuned.”
Playstation Now is currently available on the Playstation 4, PC, Playstation 3, PS Vita and Playstation TV. The service is cloud-based, meaning games do not run directly on your console or PC, and hence requires a solid and relatively fast internet connection. Though since the games are streamed, it technically means that PlayStation 3 owners could, should Sony permit it, play Playstation 4 games on their last-gen consoles. At least until August 2017, when Sony will cease support for the PS3, PS Vita and Playstation TV versions of Playstation Now.
Sony will shortly be launching a private test of PS4 games on the service, with invites to be sent to some existing Playstation Now subscribers. For those who are not invited to participate in the test, PlayStation 4 games will be officially added to Playstation Now later this year. ‘Til then, PS4 owners looking to play PS4 games on their consoles will have to rely on more primitive methods of acquisition such as “buying games online”, or “going down the shops”.
