PlayStation Now, Sony's proprietary game streaming service for the PlayStation, might be getting a major shot in the arm soon.
A Sony PlayStation 5 DualSense controller, taken on October 29, 2020.
A new patent called "Ultra high-speed low-latency network storage" was recently spotted after having been filed back in April 27.
According to TechRadar, this patent could mean that Sony PlayStation plans to use a host of NVMe SSDs to store game data.
Furthermore, the data can be streamed dynamically between these SSDs, enabling them to be delivered to clients with barely any delay. This patent, by extension, could potentially lead to PS5 games coming to PlayStation Now.
For now, though, PlayStation Now is only offering access to mostly PS4, PS3, and PS2 games. The only difference is that PS3 games can't be downloaded.
Of course, this is neither a confirmation nor a denial that PlayStation Now is getting PS5 games.
According to GameRant, the patent could very well remain on the shelves until a full implementation comes next year. Or maybe this could be an upcoming PS5 system update.
PlayStation Now has, according to some people, been lagging behind Microsoft's competing Xbox Game Pass. That's because unlike PlayStation Now, subscribers on Game Pass can stream both Xbox Series X and Series S games on their last-gen Xbox Ones using the cloud.
This has obviously played into the massive subscriber count disparity between the two streaming services.
As of mid-year, PlayStation Now could only boast 3.2 million subs (via PushSquare), while Xbox Game Pass is at a massive 23 million (via ScreenRant).
Can PlayStation Now Bring Game Streaming To A New Level?
Game streaming services like PlayStation Now offer a great way to play games without actually having a proprietary gaming console.
However, they've suffered from the same problem for so long: latency and input lag.
With this rumored high-speed storage patent, however, PlayStation Now could theoretically bring game streaming to the next level. A host of NVMe SSDs on a server could definitely speed up the entire process of streaming a game, compared to how traditional servers do it these days with mechanical hard drives.
Close-up of fingers holding a 128-gigabyte NVMe M2 SSD computer storage card, photographed in Lafayette, California, March 16, 2021.
There are certain issues, though, and one is storage space.
There's a reason why server farms largely use slower HDDs instead of NVMe SSDs: the storage capacity is just enormous.
If you're looking to put up a game streaming service like PlayStation Now, you're going to need all terabytes upon terabytes of free space.
PlayStation Now Still Has A Mountain To Climb
To say that PlayStation Now has a tough battle ahead of it is an understatement. It's simply too limited compared to Xbox Game Pass.
For one, the latter is known for often having day one releases, such as "Outriders." It also offers subscribers access to every single Xbox Game Studios first-party title, as well as Series X and Series S-optimized games.
Related: Xbox News: Series X Projected To Dominate the Holidays | Naming Your Child 'Game Pass' is a No-No
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by RJ Pierce
Related Article
Xbox News: Series X Projected To Dominate the Holidays | Naming Your Child 'Game Pass' is a No-No
Game Streaming Vs. Native Gaming: How Does One Compare to the Other?
PS5 Games Would Cost $200 Million To Make, Says Former PlayStation Boss: Does This Mean Games Will Be More Expensive?
