• Sony is launching its PlayStation Cloud Streaming service for some regions in October.
• Only subscribers to PlayStation Plus Premium will have access to the service which is limited to Windows PCs and Sony consoles.
• A bare minimum of 5mbps connection is required just to access the service, with a 38mbps line needed for 4K streaming.

After years of teases, rumours and little fanfare, Sony says that its cloud streaming for PlayStation 5 (PS5) consoles will finally launch this month, but only for certain customers.

Streaming gameplay over the cloud has been hit and miss in recent years. While an exciting idea, to make it practically work is a different story with concerns over latency, internet speeds, bandwidth and more continuing to keep gamers away from services that offer it.

However, efforts from the likes of NVIDIA and its GeForce Now cloud streaming have won the hearts and minds of a few, mostly because it just seems to work, something that the now-dead Google Stadia just never managed to get right. Joining NVIDIA in the race to become the leader in streaming gameplay over data centres are rivals Sony and Microsoft.

For Microsoft, its Xbox Cloud Gaming is still in beta, but Sony says that its own turn at the technology will soon be available for public release, at least for subscribers of PlayStation Plus Premium.

According to an official blog post from Sony’s SVP for Platform Experience Hideaki Nishino, starting in October Sony will be launching access to cloud streaming for PS5 owners who are subscribed to the Premium tier at no additional cost. Subscribers will then be able to play all the games on the PlayStation Plus digital catalogue over the service as well as any games they already own.

Premium is currently $159.99 for a 12-month subscription and is the most expensive subscription tier the gaming brand offers.

Unlike GeForce Now and Xbox Cloud Gaming, only certain devices will allow PlayStation cloud streaming, including Windows PCs, PlayStation 4s and PS5 consoles. This means that streaming over smartphones and smart TVs is out of the question.

Supported games right now include Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Horizon Forbidden West, Ghost of Tsushima, Mortal Kombat 11, Saints Row IV, Resident Evil 4, Dead Island 2, Genshin Impact, Fall Guys, and Fortnite. Sony says that it hopes to add the rest of the digital catalogue at a later date.

Some features include the ability to choose between 4K, 1440P, 1080p, and 720p streaming, with 60 FPS and SDR or HDR output. This will matter as slower connections will find it more difficult to stream higher-resolution gameplay adequately.

Aside from the subscription that is needed, Sony says that at the minimum a 38Mbps internet connection is needed to access its cloud streaming at 4K, 15mbps for 1080p and 5mbps just to start streaming.

Additionally, PlayStation cloud streaming supports Tempest 3D Audiotech for PS5 games, meaning that even when streaming via PC your game will sound and look like it does on the native PS5.

“Since this will be a large undertaking for our teams to roll out, we plan to launch regionally through a phased approach,” says Nishino. To that end, it will launch in Japan on 17th October, Europe targeting 23rd October and North America targeting 30th October 2023. Still no word about South Africa, but it is possible that it will launch locally alongside Europe seeing as we often use European servers.