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PlayStation Now brings game streaming to the PS3 at last

The launch on the PlayStation 3 brings things full circle for Sony's subscription-based service, which got its start bringing PS3 games to other devices.

Don Reisinger
CNET contributor Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has covered everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Besides his work with CNET, Don's work has been featured in a variety of other publications including PC World and a host of Ziff-Davis publications.
Don Reisinger
2 min read


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These games are coming to PlayStation Now in May. Sony

Sony's PlayStation Now streaming service is bringing its collection of PS3 games home.

The service will be launching on the PlayStation 3 on May 12, Sony announced in a blog post Monday. It will deliver to subscribers over 100 PlayStation 3 games on that console, which joins the PlayStation 4, a handful of Sony Blu-ray players, Sony televisions and other gear that already support PlayStation Now.

The PS3-centric launch brings the subscription-based service full circle, after its start letting people stream PlayStation 3 titles to a range of other devices. Sony's decision to wait on PlayStation 3 deployment seemed to make sense: the company wanted to bring the console's titles to products that didn't have them first. Since PlayStation Now streams titles from Sony's last game console, there would be at least some overlap for gamers who already owned some of the games available in the service.

PlayStation Now, unveiled in January 2014, was built atop the platform developed by Gaikai, a game-streaming company Sony acquired in 2012 for $380 million. Initially, Sony offered PlayStation Now titles through a rental model, allowing gamers to play one game at a time for a certain period of time. In January of this year, Sony announced a subscription model, allowing gamers to play as many games as they want, for as long as they want, for $20 a month.

The service supports a wide range of popular games, including NBA 2K14, Darksiders II and Killzone 3.

By adding the PlayStation 3 to the PlayStation Now lineup, Sony will dramatically expand the service's reach. VGChartz, which tracks sales of game consoles, reports that total PlayStation 3 sales to date of over 85 million units. Although it's likely not all the buyers of those units are still playing the PS3 -- we're in a new console generation dominated by the PS4, after all -- there are many who have yet to move into the latest hardware cycle, giving Sony a rather large market to capitalize on.

Sony did not immediately respond to a request for comment.