Sony is leveling up its perks for PlayStation Plus Premium members as it launches cloud streaming for the PS5 this month.
In a new post on the PlayStation Blog, Sony Interactive Entertainment's SVP of Platform Experience Hideaki Nishino reveals that it is launching cloud streaming on its ninth-generation home gaming console throughout October. Premium tier members will be able to stream some of the most popular PS5 games available in the PlayStation Plus catalog, including Horizon Forbidden West, Ghost of Tsushima, and Spider-Man: Miles Morales, to name a few.
The service will also allow Premium subscribers to stream games available in the Game Trials catalog and stream digital PS5 titles Premium members own in their game library, such as Resident Evil 4 and Dead Island 2.
The blog post notes that players will have four resolution options to choose from: 720p, 1080pm 1440p, and 4K resolution with 60 frames per second and SDR or HDR output. However, it also reveals that you need a minimum internet speed of 38mbps or more if you want to stream these games at the highest resolution.
This announcement follows an August beta test Sony rolled out where it allowed members with access to the software to stream select PS5 games at up to 4K resolution.
Due to the large scale of this service, Nishino explained that it plans to launch cloud streaming on PS5 "regionally through a phased approach." Below are the launch dates the company is targeting to launch the service:
- Japan - Oct. 17
- Europe - Oct. 23
- North America - Oct. 30
The announcement comes less than a week after Sony announced rolled out Sony Pictures Core, a rebranding of its video-on-demand streaming service Bravia Core. This rebranding resulted in the release of the Sony Pictures Core app on PS4 and PS5, allowing users to rent and buy movies to watch directly on their console. PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Plus Premium and Deluxe members now receive access to a curated pool of 100 movies available on the app for them to stream at no additional cost.
These new changes to PlayStation Plus come roughly a year after Sony significantly overhauled PlayStation Plus, dividing the service into multiple tiers, offering new perks such as the option to play retro games that were released on previous PlayStation consoles and access to time trials of some games if you opted to subscribe to the Premium membership tier.
Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.