PlayStation Now Internet Requirements

Shortly after Sony unveiled PlayStation Now, their new games streaming service for several generations worth of PlayStation games, many gamers called into question the service's viability. After all, streaming services, especially as they pertain to video games, haven't been very successful, save for a few outliers.

Yet, there is a ton of promise within the PlayStation Now service, and few have actually gone hands-on with it. More importantly, the service hasn't been released to the wild, but it will soon.

However, besides talk of PlayStation Now and what games players might see as part of the subscription or rental service, there have also been questions regarding bandwidth needs. Specifically, gamers want to know what PlayStation Now will need to run efficiently and without any noticeable lag.

According to EP Daily, the optimum bandwidth for solid PlayStation Now usage is 5Mbps. Sony says that with that speed or higher gamers should be able to stream any PlayStation Now game, either to PS3, PS4, or Vita, with minimal latency. There will be some compression, of course, but no more than you might see in a Remote Play session.

At CES 2014, Sony demoed four different PlayStation titles — God of War: Ascension, Puppeteer, The Last of Us, and Beyond: Two Souls — using the PlayStation Now servers, but they did so using better-than-average conditions. Rather than streaming from a centralized hub, these particular demo units were only several yards away from the streaming server, so we'd imagine there was minimal lag. That isn't to say the service won't be as flawless as the preview coverage suggests it is, but we'd rather wait until the closed beta later this month to pass full judgment.

Still, you can get a brief look at PlayStation Now in the video below:

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As was mentioned, PlayStation Now goes into beta later this month, and it launches in earnest this summer. At a glance, the service sounds exactly like what Sony promised when they first announced their partnership with Gaikai, but oftentimes execution doesn't always meet expectation. Internet speeds will be the ultimate gatekeeper for the service — and maybe price — but those who do meet the requirements will have access to (potentially) an endless library of games.

If PlayStation Now runs as efficiently as the above video will you subscribe or use the service? What about the service are you excited about and what are you unsure about?

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Source: EP Daily, IGN