PlayStation 5: 8 New Rumours You Need To Hear
3. Streaming Services Could Shape How You Access Games
The PS4 Pro changed Sony's otherwise sequential release model slightly, as the company experimented with a smartphone-esque iterative release to bridge the gap between two flagship machines.
According to EA's Chris Evenden, the future of the console market could be completely reshaped by streaming services going forward. He believes gamers will no longer have to shell out for new hardware once on-demand platforms become more sophisticated - a development which would have major implications for the PS5.
GamesIndustry.biz quotes him as saying...
"I think it's inevitable that the gaming entertainment world will move in much the same way that the music and video entertainment worlds have already moved, in the sense that people have moved from an ownership model to an access model.
"You'll see that in gaming, just as you've seen it with Spotify and Netflix in other media businesses."
This is the direction a top executive from one of the world's biggest gaming studios sees the industry moving in, and if he's right, this could mean that the PS5 is the last console PlayStation fans will ever have to buy.
Future triple-A releases could be beamed directly to the next-gen machine for a monthly fee, providing the system plays host to gaming's true answer to Netflix.
Gaming subscription services are already a thing, and Sony has its own in the form of PlayStation Now, but this is a platform where there's plenty of room for improvement over the next generation. More up-to-date games would be a good start.