PS5 takes on Xbox Cloud Gaming with 4K resolution streaming
PS5 takes on Xbox Cloud Gaming with 4K resolution streaming
Sony is taking cloud gaming seriously as new public preview rolls out to testers
Sony is rolling out a new cloud streaming preview to select participants, and there are some exciting discoveries for PlayStation gamers that might make Xbox Cloud Gaming users a little jealous.
While cloud streaming isn’t exactly new on PlayStation platforms – you’ve been able to stream PS3 and PS4 games for a while now – it’s never felt like Sony truly cared about the cloud. Yes, it invested in cloud streaming a few years before Microsoft joined the party, but support has been sluggish, to say the least.
Now, though, a new public beta test for PS5 cloud gaming allows players to stream PlayStation 5 games at 4K resolution – far higher than the 1080 maximum seen on Xbox Cloud Gaming.
➡️ The Shortcut Skinny: PS5 cloud streaming
☁️ Invites for PS5 cloud streaming are rolling out now
🆕 You can test Sony’s new cloud streaming service which includes PS5 games
🙌 You can stream up at 4K resolution, depending on your network connection and video output resolution
👍 Sony seems to be taking cloud gaming more seriously
Cloud gaming will be exclusive to PlayStation Plus Premium members, just like how Xbox Cloud Gaming is only available to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers. You can choose between 720p, 1080p, 1440p, and 2160p (4K) resolutions, and games will pull in your cloud saves automatically.
You won’t have to wait for any updates or downloads either. Simply start the title you’d like to play, and you’re ready to enjoy some of the best PS5 games without sacrificing any storage space.
One caveat is that you can only stream PS5 games from the console itself and not via your mobile phone or PC. That’s at odds with Microsoft’s offering, where you can stream on every platform.
Latency will also be key. Higher resolutions can help combat image quality issues that can often plague cloud streaming, but if a game feels unresponsive and laggy to play, it’s a deal breaker.
If Sony can figure out a way to put its cloud streaming service on phones, particularly for the upcoming Project Q PS5 handheld, it could be a great quality-of-life feature. It’s unclear when the cloud gaming service will roll out to all users, but it could arrive alongside the new PS5 update that’s currently in beta.