According to recently-uncovered court documents, Sony was planning to bring the PlayStation Now subscription cloud gaming service to mobile devices. The plans date from 2017, and would have made a plethora of PS3 and PS4 games playable on smartphone devices. However, those plans ultimately did not come to fruition.
As spotted by The Verge, the court documents come from the Epic v. Apple trial which concluded back in September 2021. In it, Apple reportedly had insider knowledge that Sony was planning to bring the PS Now service to mobile devices. Notably, the document listed PS Now as both a console and mobile subscription service. If plans had gone through, subscribers would have had mobile streaming access to “over 450+ PS3 games to start,” with plans to add PS4 games at a later date.
While this might sound too good to be true, PlayStation Now has evolved and streamlined significantly over the years. Previously, the service actually allowed subscribers to stream video games to PlayStation TV, Smart TVs such as the Sony Bravia and Samsung TV, and even Sony Blu-Ray players. However, Sony ended support for those devices in 2017 in order to focus on PS Now for the PS4 and Windows PC. Whether or not Sony also had plans to add mobile cloud gaming support later in the year is unclear.
It’s worth noting that PlayStation Now does allow players to stream video games, but only to their PS4 and PS5 consoles. While not technically cloud gaming, it’s also still possible to play PlayStation games on mobile devices through the PS Remote Play app. Of course, the app requires players to own a PS4 or PS5 in order to play the games.
How would you feel about a possible mobile cloud gaming app from Sony? Do you think it was the right move to focus on console development? Let us know in the comments below.
[Source: The Verge]
