PlayStation Now to Support Only PS4 and PC

Sony announced this week that it is dropping support for legacy platforms from its PlayStation Now service. Going forward, it will only support PlayStation 4 and Windows PCs.

“After thoughtful consideration, we decided to shift our focus and resources to PS4 and Windows PC to further develop and improve the user experience on these two devices,” Sony’s Brian Dunn writes in the PlayStation Blog. “This move puts us in the best position to grow the service even further.”

More specifically, Sony is discontinuing PlayStation Now on the following devices on April 1, 2017:

  • PlayStation 3
  • PlayStation Vita and PlayStation TV
  • All 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 Sony Bravia TV models
  • All Sony Blu-ray player models
  • All Samsung TV models

PlayStation Now is an online service that lets gamers play select PlayStation 3 titles on multiple platforms. You can buy these games ad hoc or subscribe for a monthly fee of $19 to access the broader catalog of over 400 games.

What’s interesting about this change is that PlayStation Now didn’t even ship on Windows PCs until August 2016.

I’m curious that Microsoft doesn’t offer something like this for Xbox 360 games.

 

Tagged with

Share post

Please check our Community Guidelines before commenting

Conversation 19 comments

  • 7191

    16 February, 2017 - 9:49 am

    <p>I’m one of those people who’s desperately clinging to Windows Media Center w/CableCard (and FiOS TV service). I was just about to start testing out PS Now as a possible replacement for when Microsoft finally stops providing guide data. I even bought a Sony Blu-ray player specifically for this purpose… but I guess that’s going back! I’ll probably still try out PS Now, but moves like this make me question whether Sony is really committed to providing this service in the long run. That being said, it’s mostly old Sony devices that they stopped supporting (I guess the Amazon Fire Stick is still supported?), so maybe we should be questioning their dedication to hardware sales, no subscription services.</p>

  • 5571

    16 February, 2017 - 9:53 am

    <p>I imagine this decision was made on usage statistics and the fact that TV app platforms are generally a pain-in-the-butt to support.</p>

  • 437

    16 February, 2017 - 10:29 am

    <p>I think with the investment in backwards compatibility on the Xbox One they don’t see a need to setup a streaming infrastructure for 360 games. PS Now would be a lot more interesting if it included current PS4 games.</p>

    • 5027

      16 February, 2017 - 10:57 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#42698">In reply to </a><a href="../../users/StudBen">StudBen</a><a href="#42698">:</a> that’s probably what is coming, PS4 games on Playstation Now, and that is why they kill it on PS3. Because if you can play PS4 games on PS3, why get a PS4?? (Except the fact that streaming games suck, and that is why PlayStation Now really has not taken off in a big way regarding games streaming)</em></blockquote>
      <p>&nbsp;</p>

      • 1292

        16 February, 2017 - 12:51 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#42704">In reply to </a><a href="../../users/JudaZuk">JudaZuk</a><a href="#42704">:</a></em></blockquote>
        <p>Anyone know if PSNow streaming is any good on a 150 down /15 up broadband cable?</p>

        • Waethorn

          16 February, 2017 - 1:55 pm

          <blockquote><em><a href="#42757">In reply to FreeJAC:</a></em></blockquote><p>Nobody likes a show-off.</p>

          • JudaZuk

            17 February, 2017 - 2:15 am

            <blockquote><em><a href="#42781">In reply to Waethorn:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Then I guess I should not say I have had 100/100Mbit for years, and thinking about 1Gb/100Mbit that my ISP has been offering for a while now. I'm just not sure I need more then 100Mbit at the moment 🙂 (and no it is not even expensive)</p>

  • 1475

    16 February, 2017 - 11:13 am

    <p>My 2016 Sony Bravia TV had in massive lettering on the box "PlayStation Now!" Just <em>plug in</em> a controller (seriously plug in?). Good thing I never used it!</p>

    • 5215

      Premium Member
      16 February, 2017 - 11:34 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#42715">In reply to </a><a href="../../users/dougkinzinger">dougkinzinger</a><a href="#42715">:</a></em></blockquote>
      <p>Wow if it has that advertised as a feature I bet Sony may be in some legal hot water on this.&nbsp; Or at least they should be.&nbsp; A TV from last year is considered a legacy system…&nbsp; What?</p>

      • 1292

        16 February, 2017 - 12:50 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#42723">In reply to </a><a href="../../users/zorb56">zorb56</a><a href="#42723">:</a></em></blockquote>
        <p>My 65 yr old mother bought a Blu-ray player with the same logo this year. If the service had PS4 games on it &nbsp;I would have totally bought a controller and tried it out with my kids for when we go there. New service dying on the vine I guess.</p>

  • 5394

    16 February, 2017 - 11:44 am

    <p>"August 2016." So PCs should have it now? Correct?</p>

  • 5341

    Premium Member
    16 February, 2017 - 11:51 am

    <p>I’ve used it on my PS4. It works better than I expected, but not quite good enough. I really missed playing the Motorstorm games on the PS3, so I tried on PS Now. The graphics were fine, but latency made it very hard to precisely control. Other games were better.&nbsp;</p>

  • 6494

    16 February, 2017 - 12:13 pm

    <p>That sucks,well I might as well pitch my Vita in the trash.</p>

  • Tallin

    16 February, 2017 - 3:11 pm

    <blockquote><a href="#42684"><em>In reply to MikeCerm:</em></a></blockquote><p>Er… This is&nbsp;a game streaming service. Media Center is not even in the same category.</p><p><br></p><p>Edit: Btw, what you're likely thinking of is PS Vue.</p>

  • chaad_losan

    16 February, 2017 - 4:02 pm

    <p>Blow me Sony. So you can all the cheap PS Now Clients and force people to get a PS4 or use a PC. But for $19 a month. That's too much really to play a bunch of old games.</p>

  • maethorechannen

    Premium Member
    17 February, 2017 - 5:03 am

    <p>How is being available on fewer devices, including the company's own recent TVs and Blu-ray players, going to grow the service? I can sort of see dropping PS3 support to help nudge people who haven't upgraded to upgrade (though I think it's more likely that would backfire). If anything, you'd think they'd be on any platform that would take them.</p>

  • Darmok N Jalad

    17 February, 2017 - 9:12 am

    <p>I've owned a PS3 and PS4, and I honestly never cared for Sony's services. They didn't seem as user friendly as Xbox Live. I remember how much work it was to cancel a preorder on PS4, even though it was still a month from availability. I had to use customer service, and I had to ask to get a refund to PayPal, as they were wanting to refund it as a credit to the store. The online gaming part was fine, but the rest just seemed clunky.</p>

  • PaulMD

    21 February, 2017 - 10:01 am

    <p>Bet Sony release the TV firmware to remove the app on time…</p>

  • jianhawkjh

    31 August, 2017 - 7:14 am

    <p><span style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); color: rgb(85, 85, 85);">I’m not sure I’d call the PS4 a generational leap over the PS3. Overall my impressions of my PS4 have been middling to say the least, and now in only 3yrs of its existence Sony wants to persuade us to buy into even more hardware alongside the PSVR. Sounds to me Sony is overcompensating in PlayStation to mask and make up for its deficiencies in their other departments</span></p>

Newsletter

Stay up to date with the latest tech news from Thurrott.com!

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Thurrott © 2023 BWW Media Group