ONE STEP BEYOND

PSVR2 shows Sony’s commitment to branching out beyond single home consoles. What else is on the horizon?

PROJECT SPARTACUS

Rumours about this subscription service are coming in so thick and fast they’re giving milkshakes a run for their money. It could be announced by the time you read this. A supposedly milky blend of PS Plus and PS Now, it’s said to come in three varieties – a skimmed that’s much the same as PS Plus, a semi-skimmed that also includes what you expect from PS Now, and a full-fat version that will apparently include a back catalogue of classic games. Everyone is into streaming these days, and it’s important that Sony crack the coconut.

HOLDING HAND(HELDS)

We’ve all seen how emotional Oscar gets when he talks about PS Vita, and believe it or not, he’s not alone. While Nintendo’s Switch dominates the portable console gaming market right now, it’s hard to believe that’s going to be the case forever. It’s so lucrative that surely competitors have to pop up somewhere. Is just having PS Now and Remote Play on mobile phones really enough? PS Vita was almost there too, with PS TV allowing you to hook up your handheld to the big TV, and the console’s dev units even featuring HDMI-out. Or, who knows, maybe a PS Now app could make it to another publisher’s device?

NOW YOU SEE IT

With the commitment to streaming comes the ability for everyone to play PlayStation even without playing on PlayStation. Don’t worry, PS5 is always going to be the best place to eke out gaming juice in prime 4K at high framerates without destroying your internet. But a combination of remote play to access your PS5 and streaming from Sony servers means the game doesn’t have to stop. We’ve seen it already with Remote Play on mobile phones, and on PS4 and PS Vita, but the likes of PS Now are also available on PC (not to mention PC ports of Horizon, God Of War, and more) and even built into some Smart TVs (like Sony Bravias). Expect consoles to be just one part of the ecosystem in the future. Imagine simply booting up a PS1 game on a TV or phone.

“EXPECT CONSOLES TO BE JUST ONE PART OF THE ECOSYSTEM.”