For those who wish the PS4 had backward compatibility, the announcement of PlayStation Now offers a glimpse of hope. Arriving during Summer of this year, it’ll allow streaming of a variety of games from platforms of past. But not everyone is optimistic about its arrival.
Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter had a few choice words for PS Now, calling it a “joke” before explaining:
There is no publisher that is going to license content that’s less than two-years old because they would be concerned that they can’t sell as many copies if they make it available for subscription or rental.
[PlayStation Now] has no prayer of working. None.
Gamers in attendance at CES 2014 had some very positive things to say about PS Now on the show floor. A demo was run with The Last of Us where it performed almost identically to if it were being run locally. However, the experience was controlled so there’s no telling how close the demo simulated what a consumer can expect later this year.
Streaming has been a long time coming, and Sony has taken a huge risk by investing $380 million in the buyout of Gaikai and thousands of man hours in the development. That risk is what the game industry needs as it could lead to a revolution in convenience and accessibility for gamers in the future.
As inflammatory as Pachter’s comments are, he makes a point. We shouldn’t expect to be able to play the latest and greatest games with the service. Then again, that’s not the point of PS Now. A lot of the hype is centered around being able to play games from platforms that consumers no longer have plugged into their home entertainment center. Everything we’ve seen so far says it’ll be really good at doing just that.
[Source: GameInformer]
