Facts

PlayStation Now 1080p game streaming is finally arriving

By JC Torres/

Game streaming promised many things, particularly high-resolution graphics-intensive triple-A gaming even without a PC capable of running those games. Due to technical considerations, however, many of the current game streaming services haven't exactly made good on those. Most are capped at 1080p, though there are some 4K exceptions. Sony's PlayStation Now, however, has been limited to 720p for the longest time. That is changing this week as the company finally flips the 1080p switch.

In theory, game streaming would free up a lot of hardware-based limitations but it actually just offloads the burden on the remote servers. In exchange, these services consume bandwidth and the higher the resolution, the larger the data sent through the wire. Since it was one of the earliest to launch, it's no surprise that Sony's PlayStation Now had a 720p cap.

That, however, doesn't look good these days when the baseline is pretty much 1080p. Stadia even offers 4K, at least to some subscribers and some titles. PlayStation Now isn't alone, though, but Sony is beating Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass cloud streaming to that punch.

PlayStation's Twitter account just announced the good news that 1080p streaming is starting to roll out for some compatible games. Sony, however, hasn't yet released a list of which 1080p capable games are on its list, though its tweet suggests at least Marvel's Avengers to be part of that group. It might also take weeks before the rollout becomes complete across the US, Europe, Canada, Japan, and other supported markets.

This upgrade curiously comes after Amazon's young Luna game streaming service went in the other direction. Already streaming at 1080p by default, Amazon announced earlier this month that it will be offering a 720p mode for those who need to save bandwidth and the costs that it would incur.

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