PlayStation has announced that cloud streaming is coming for PS5 games for PlayStation Plus Premium members. Right now, they are in the testing phase for supported PS5 games – including PS5 titles from the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog and Game Trials, as well as supported digital PS5 titles that players own. Head of subscriptions Nick Maguire talked to Gamesindustry.biz about that, the success of the revamped PlayStation Plus service, and how it affects PlayStation’s release strategy.
According to Maguire, the revamped PlayStation Plus service with its three different subscription tiers has been a hit. He says that users of the service are, on average, spending more time with it as compared to PlayStation Now in the year prior to launch. PlayStation Now was what the streaming service was called. It was folded with the new PlayStation Plus service when it was relaunched.
“And that’s from a wider bigger base of players,” he adds. “We’re pretty confident that’s down to the quality of diversity that we’re putting into the game portfolio. It makes Plus attractive to many people and we’ve continued to find high-quality, high-calibre titles. That means that there’s something there for nearly everyone.”
As of now, only older games are being put into the platform. There are some games such as the popular indie hit, Stray and Tchia that launched day in date with the service. Nick Maguire says that PlayStation will continue with its strategy and will not release first-party games day and date into PS Plus.
“We’re happy with our strategy,” he says. “Putting games in a bit later in the life cycle has meant that we can reach more customers 12, 18, 24 months after they have released. We’re seeing customers still get excited about those games and jumping in. For us, that’s working. Occasionally, there will be an opportunity to invest in a day-and-date like Stray and we will jump on those when they come in. But for us, letting those [first-party] games go out to the platform outside the service first… that’s working and that will continue to be our strategy moving forward.”
Talking about the future, Maguire said “we are constantly working out what the right strategy is moving forward,” Maguire answers. “How are player habits going to evolve and how do we make sure the service meets those future habits? No more I can say on that at the moment but obviously we are keeping close to it and thinking about the role that Plus can play moving forward.”
“I don’t think anything has told us we need to change course,” he concludes. “It’s now about finding how we add new features that players want, new games that people are asking us for that we don’t have, other benefits that they are asking for… how do we keep the service relevant, make it more valuable and bring more people in.
“The engagement here has been really impressive in the first year, more people than we thought jumped in to play these games and dedicated these hours than we expected. It’s solidified our strategy to find that variety of different games to make it really appeal to people. It’s about keeping close to that and making sure we aren’t getting complacent or being in the present too much. We are thinking about what is next and trying to predict what players might want in a years time or five years time. It’s really exciting.”