Asian tech giants Sony and Samsung are teaming up to bring the PlayStation Now game-rental service to smart TVs in early 2015, Christian Science Monitor reported.
This partnership is a win-win situation as it allows Sony to expand the PlayStation service beyond its own devices and Samsung to put its smart TV hardware to good use. Other the other hand, neither Sony nor Samsung has confirmed whether PlayStation Now will be compatible only with 2015 Samsung smart TVs or with existing models.
Further details are expected to be given the Consumer Electronics Show of Samsung in Las Vegas in January 2015 when it the company is going to display PlayStation Now on its TVs.
Created by Sony in collaboration with Gaikai, PlayStation Now provides game-streaming technology allowing users to rent PS3 games and stream them directly to Sony Bravia TVs and to PS4, PS3 and PS Vita consoles. It is enough to have a PS3 or PS4 controller because the rendering is entirely done in the cloud.
While Sony has yet to announce the exact date when the service will become available, PlayStation Now will be available as an app for the smart TV interface of Samsung. Like on other platforms, PlayStation Network credentials and credit-card information are needed for the service.
Upon downloading the app, users simply need to follow the standard PlayStation Now procedure of searching games, choosing which game to rent, and playing it, according to Tom's Guide.
Earlier in 2014, Sony allowed PlayStation Now streaming service users to play full-fledged PlayStation games on a TV with no console.