In a few weeks European players will be able to play the PS5 catalog in cloud streaming via subscription to PlayStation Plus Premium. On paper it could have been a great novelty and potentially would have made a service more appetizing which at the moment, compared to the Extra tier, offers (few) classics from the older generations and some exclusive timed demos. In practice, however, it is really difficult to get excited about a feature that is severely limited by Sony’s choices, primarily the fact that it will be usable exclusively from PS5.
But let’s go step by step for those who don’t know what we’re talking about. Yesterday the Japanese company announced that starting from October 23, 2023, all PlayStation Plus Premium subscribers will be able to use cloud streaming to play titles from the PS5 catalogue, obviously including all those purchased from the PlayStation Store or included in the service catalogue.
Indeed, the news on paper is very interesting, but now comes the negative note. In fact, the service can be used only and exclusively from PS5, eliminating from the equation what is practically the strong point of cloud gaming, namely the possibility of playing in streaming from multiple devices.
Too little too late?
For goodness sake, I am convinced that there are those who will appreciate the possibility of instantly starting any PS5 game and saving storage space or the time needed to complete the download of dozens and dozens of GB, but undoubtedly the potential of cloud gaming it’s something else entirely.
Microsoft has demonstrated this for years with xCloud, which allows you to use most of the Game Pass catalog not only from Xbox Series two generations of consoles, as well as from any compatible mobile device and smart TV. In practice, the future: being able play anywhere, anytime.
PlayStation, for its part, with this move arrives significantly behind the competition and in the end it only makes one half a step forward, considering that all subscribers on PS4 and PC have been excluded (who can only use the service with the PS4 catalog and classic games). Clearly, all this does not help the spread of cloud gaming, a goal that even Microsoft is struggling to achieve despite the great versatility of xCloud.
In light of this news, it makes us even more bitter to think about the great thing wasted potential of PlayStation Portalwhich could have become a very attractive portable device via the cloud and instead is relegated to the role of remote player exclusively via Remote Play.
And what do you think? Despite the limitations, are you interested in streaming PS5 games via PlayStation Plus Premium? Let us know in the comments.
This is an editorial written by a member of the editorial team and is not necessarily representative of the editorial line of Multiplayer.it.
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