PlayStation is testing cloud streaming of PS5 games and plans to make it available to PS Plus Premium subscribers.
The service includes PS5 titles from the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog and Game Trials, as well as “supported” digital PS5 games that players already own.
Nick Maguire, the company’s vice president and global head of subscription division, revealed that players can only stream these games to PS5 consoles at this time.
“We are very much looking forward to it,” he says. GamesIndustry.biz. “We have nothing more to share about it today. We are currently in testing and will provide further updates as soon as they are ready.”
Beyond PS5 game streaming, Sony has announced that more games will be added to the service this month. This includes Far Cry 6, Shredder’s Revenge, Rogue Legacy 2, and Inception on PS4 and PS5. Also, Soulstice will be added to PS5, and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided and Killing Floor will be added to PS4. Elsewhere, his WWE 2K23 for PS4 launches within Game Trials, and his fan-favorite PSP game Killzone Liberation joins the company’s classic series.
All of this news came in time for people to renew their annual subscriptions. PS Plus relaunched last June with three different subscription tiers. This effectively led the company to merge his two subscription services. One featured several games, but was primarily about online play, PS Plus, and PlayStation Now, which featured a catalog of games that users could download or stream.
Maguire said the service is a hit, highlighting stats like “one billion hours of gameplay since the launch of its catalog.” He also said that users of the service spent an average of seven times as much time on PS Plus as they did on PlayStation Now in the year before the launch.
“Put your game into service a little later in the lifecycle […] It works well for us.”
“And it’s from a wider player base,” he added. “I’m pretty confident it’s due to the quality of diversity we incorporate into our game portfolio. We’ve been looking for high titles, which means there’s something there’ for just about everyone. ”
Maguire highlights some of the standout titles within the service, including Dead By Daylight, The Legend of Dragoon, Rainbow Six: Siege and, of course, the indie game Stray, which launched in July.
“Stray brought in the most players to access that title in its first 12 months,” says Maguire. “And ‘Ghost of Tsushima’ brought the most hours of gameplay. People really fell in love with the game and invested heavily in it. It brought great engagement and a lot of excitement PS It also applies to the power of Studios titles.”
“Four of the year’s top 10 are PS Studio titles: Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Horizon Forbidden West, and the more recent addition, Ratchet and Crank Lift Apart. This is a very It’s rising fast and growing month by month.These exclusive titles are truly relatable and engaging.”
Maguire said the PS5 is the largest platform for Plus services, including the more expensive tier, which is a good sign that the console’s installed base will continue to grow.
While first-party games have proven to be very popular on the service, Maguire said the company’s strategy is to only bring its own older games onto the platform and not release titles on a daily basis. He said he was steadfast.
“We are happy with our strategy,” he says. “By introducing games a little later in their lifecycle, we are able to reach more customers 12 months, 18 months, 24 months after release. Customers are still excited about those games. And we’re seeing them jumping on it. [first-party] Games are published to platforms outside the service first…it works and will continue to be our strategy. ”
Subscription services are beneficial for service-based games. We see major publishers launching service-based titles such as GTA Online and Rainbow Six: Siege onto subscription platforms to attract new players and increase the popularity of these games (usually through microtransactions and other forms of (featuring monetization) have seen an increase in viewership. Given Sony’s recent investment in new service-based games, is it likely that some of these upcoming titles will hit PS Plus on a daily basis? Will I receive special benefits?
“We are always thinking about what strategies are going to move forward,” Maguire says. “How will player habits evolve, and how can we ensure that our service is ready for those future habits? I can’t say more at this point, but Obviously we’re getting closer to that and thinking about what role Plus can play in the future.” ”
“We were surprised to see Premium end up with a larger share of the base than the Extra.”
When asked if the service could be brought to PC given the company’s growing catalog of PC games, Maguire had the same answer.
Ultimately, the team listens and learns along the way. And Maguire said there were already some surprises.
“I was personally surprised that Premium ended up with a bigger share than Extra. Everyone thought the Extra would be the first thing most people would go for, but actually , the premium was more popular and bigger,” he reveals. “That’s a pleasant surprise.
“And I’m surprised that we have such a similar picture from country to country, region to region. There are obviously some exceptions, but on the whole, the top 10 and top 20 are generally, albeit with slightly different rankings. To: It’s the same in every country, some countries have different tastes in titles, but on average the combinations are very similar.”
When the new PS Plus was launched, revenue increased but subscriber numbers declined. Maguire said this was due to the post-pandemic drop experienced by the gaming industry as a whole last year. He said the service is mostly back on a growth trajectory and the business does not need to shift from its current strategy.
“I don’t think anything has been said that we need to change course,” he concluded. “Now it’s about finding new features that players want, new games that people don’t have in us, how to add other benefits that people want… keeping the service relevant. , add value and attract more people.
“The effort here in the first year has been really impressive, with more people coming in to play these games than we thought they would and spending more time than we expected. This cemented our strategy of finding different games that really appealed to people: “It’s about getting closer to it and not being too complacent or too fixated on the status quo. is thinking about what’s next and trying to predict what players want in a few years, or even five years from now, and that’s really important ‘exciting. ”
