Playstation Now is a new feature that Sony unveiled at CES 2014. The original purpose was to allow Bravia TV and PS Vita users to experience PS console game services directly in the cloud without having to purchase game consoles. Sony will also later This service is extended to Samsung Smart TVs. Unsurprisingly, PS Now launched a new feature on the 23rd without a hitch. PS content will support PC platforms that have been opposed to it.
57bfa069c62d2.jpg The concept of cloud games is not new. After the 2010 E3 conference, many companies began to open the service one after another. Sony's extension of PS Now's business to the PC platform does not actually require much technical changes. However, considering Sony's recent PS Silm, PS VR, and subsequent PS NEO, once the PC is compatible with the content on the PS host, the PS VR will have the opportunity to use it on the PC side, which will also become a PS VR in the fight against oculus rift And the HTC Vive's important stack.
However, PS Now still has many problems at this stage, and the player's evaluation of it is also degrading. This is why PS Now is still in awkward status after 2 years. Sony has not actually planned a VR strategy based on the PC platform. The PS VR may not be able to be stationed in PS Now's service system in a short time.
Sony has also created opportunities for PSVR while extending the PS host to the PC platform.
Although Playstation VR's pre-order performance is quite eye-catching, the total number of ps vr players depends on the host base of the Playstation 4 or higher series. Excluding Silm and NEO, which have not yet been included in the statistics, a data from SIE (Sony Interactive Entertainment) shows that the sales volume of the PS4 as of May 22, 2016 was 40 million units.
Although this may seem like a huge number, the actual conversion rate of PSVR is unlikely to reach 100%. According to IHS's forecast, the total sales of Playstation VR in 2017 may only reach 2.5 million units. Sony's own attitude also shows that they agree with this view. Andrew House, president of computer entertainment company, pointed out: “Playstation VR is not necessary to come out. With tens of millions sold, we will pay more attention to the development of the developer community."
Since the host-side audience is relatively solid, expanding the PS VR to the PC platform is very valuable. This will directly drive the overall sales of the VR device. The PS Now-compatible PC-based strategy can provide the basic conditions for this idea.
In addition, the combination of PS Now and PS VR also has some inherent advantages. Because cloud services share a part of the hardware requirements, the hardware configuration required for the PS VR will be significantly reduced, plus the player does not need to purchase additional ones. Taiwan PS4 host, its overall cost can be effectively compressed. The cross-platform advantage and more core content can also draw more potential consumers from the PC, and then erode the market of HTC Vive and Oculus rift, laying the foundation for the core of Playstation VR governance.
PS Now is not perfect at present, and there are still many difficulties with the combination of ps vr
In fact, Sony's PS Now has many flaws, and it still can't support the PC platform very well. Because the game is run on a server, the server also needs to perform collaborative operations while the user calls the cloud game. In order to guarantee the speed of operation, the game can only be presented in the form of reduced image quality, and many players also feedback that when using PS Now to play games often have serious mosaic phenomenon.
The countries and regions in which the players are located will largely determine the quality of the game experience. Since Sony does not have a corresponding server in the Chinese region, domestic players have expressed that PS Now's Caton phenomenon is frequent. In addition, the official speed recommended by Sony is 5Mbps. Even in the United States equipped with servers, consumers need to spend 200 to 300 US dollars more per year, and this price may reach as much as 3,000 yuan in China. It also caused most people to not play smoothly.
In addition, the cloud service is not a free service. PS Now uses a "loan game" payment model. This model provides two payment methods. The first method is to determine the price based on the single game duration of 4 hours, 7 days, 30 days, and 90 days. For example, "Crazy Taxi" for 3 months. The rental fee is $7.99, while the "dead 5" (DOA5) that takes 4 hours to rent costs $2.99. The second method is to open a subscription member. Sony will randomly send hundreds of games to subscribers every month. The monthly fee is US$19.9. From this point of view, the cost of renting games is actually very high, and core players are more willing to buy out content.
Introducing Playstation VR into PS Now will make the contradiction even more prominent. VR games have higher requirements for data transmission, and they will also test the supplier's server configuration. At present, there is no clear rule for PS VR to access the PC. In addition, Sony has been reluctant to optimize its own cloud service. There are still many difficulties that need to be solved in the early stage.
Cross-platform will become the mainstream of the future, and the PSNow+PSVR model may become a part of the host ecosystem.
The strategy of game console manufacturers in recent years is slowly changing, and increasingly fierce competition forces them to continue to implement new services, faster iterations of hardware products. Cross-platform cloud services are also part of the strategic transformation, and the host-enclosed ecosystem may become a thing of the past.
In fact, PS Now’s sticking out to the PC platform is largely influenced by Microsoft's cross-platform strategy. Many of Xbox One's content will subsequently be ported to the PC platform, and their "Xbox Play Anywhere" service announced at the 2016 E3 Expo has deepened the depth of the strategy. This service allows Xbox One and Windows 10 to communicate with each other, and even allows them to experience different ports online. In addition, collections and achievements based on Xbox live may also be synchronized.
It can be imagined that when the interoperability services between the host and the PC converge, it is reasonable to introduce the VR platform. The PS Now+PS VR model will become a part of the future host ecosystem. The "Xbox Scorpio" project is also very likely to produce ps vr competing products, refer to Microsoft's usual strategy, VR devices into the "Xbox Play Anywhere" service is only a matter of time.
In addition, because the server is responsible for a part of the task of running the game, the user basically only needs to ensure the speed of the network communication and the improvement of the display device to realize the gaming experience. Therefore, it is not a technical difficulty to connect the mobile terminal to the cloud service. The PSVITA supported by PS Now is a good example. Its configuration is still not as good as the current flagship phone. However, both the construction of the server and the improvement of the network speed involve a lot of cost expenditures, and the mobile terminal also needs to obtain the support of the communications operators. These are all problems that cannot be solved by half past one hour.
Square Enix had established a subsidiary called Shinra Technologies in 2014 that focused on the cloud game business. They also created the cloud game platform “Dive In.†However, it has been unable to develop Successful cloud products, Shen Luo technology was forced to dissolve in less than 2 years, but also brought a loss of 2 billion yen.
The slogan "The next evolution of gaming" published by ShinRatech in 2015 has also become a dead endpiece. In many people's opinion, honestly ported content is the best cross-platform solution. Cross-platform may become the mainstream of the future. However, it is still unknown whether the cloud model can meet cross-platform requirements. For PS VRs, It's even more so.