Sony’s PlayStation Now service is currently only available on Sony devices, such as PlayStation consoles and the company’s Bravia line of smart televisions, but that’s all going to change next year when Sony opens the service to third-party devices. Despite being a direct competitor to Sony in numerous fields, Samsung will be the first company to begin offering the service on its devices, starting with its own line of smart televisions.
“We are excited to collaborate with PlayStation to deliver even more entertainment value to our Smart TV platform. PlayStation Now provides a new dimension to Samsung Smart TVs that consumers have been looking for – blockbuster PS3 games accessed through an intuitive interface that makes it easy to discover and play great gaming experiences,” said Youngchan Kim, Vice President at Samsung Electronics at the time of the announcement.
For those of you who aren’t aware, PlayStation Now is a service provided by Sony that allows users to stream PlayStation 3 games to compatible devices and play them, regardless of whether the device would be capable of running those games by itself or not, although a DualShock 3 controller is still required to play the games. This is done using the technology that Sony acquired after it purchased a company known as Gaikai back in 2012.
The service was first announced at CES 2014 back in January, and began rolling out various Sony devices shortly after that, starting with the PlayStation 3 on January 28th. The service has since expanded to include the PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation TV, and some of the company’s Bravia smart televisions. Users can pay for the service on a per-game basis or via a subscription, and the company has promised to add streaming options for PlayStation 4 games in the near future, with the possibility of PlayStation and PlayStation 2 streaming as well.
As I mentioned before, Samsung will be the first company to begin offering PlayStation Now on its own products thanks to a surprising partnership with Sony. The service will be offered on a few “select” Samsung smart televisions starting in the first half of 2015, and will be exclusively offered in the United States and Canada. It’ll be offered in the form of an app that can be downloaded through the Samsung Smart Hub.
“Since we first introduced PlayStation Now at CES 2014, our vision has been to open the world of PlayStation to the masses by offering the service on the devices they use every day,” said Masayasu Ito, Executive Vice President of Sony, in an official press release. “Partnering with Samsung is a key step toward realizing this vision, as we can reach a broader audience of consumers who may not own a PlayStation console to show them why gaming with PlayStation is such a unique and amazing experience.”
Considering how strong of a presence Samsung has in the television market, especially the ever-growing smart television market, it’s certainly a smart move on Sony’s part to form a partnership with the company. Customers looking to use PlayStation Now on one of the compatible Samsung televisions will have access to all of the features they’d find on a Sony product, so those of you who were concerned about Sony neutering the service on third-party devices needn’t worry.
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