PlayStation Now game streaming is coming to Samsung smart TVs

Sony is about to take your so-called “smart” TV back to school. Starting next year, the PlayStation Now game streaming service will be making its way to Samsung Smart TVs. Select models will support Sony’s cloud-powered gaming service, and will mark the first time that PS Now has been made available on anything other than Sony’s own hardware platforms.

In a press release Sony and Samsung gave a brief overview of this partnership. Sometime in the first half of next year, the PlayStation Now application will be available for download on Samsung’s Smart Hub. Select Samsung Smart TVs will run the app, and pair with a DualShock 4 for gameplay. It’s unclear exactly how widespread support will be on Samsung’s televisions, but it’s promising to see Sony working with other hardware.

Now that the door is open for other hardware manufactures to support PS Now, it leaves me wondering about what else Sony has planned for the next couple of months. Partnering with set-top boxes like Roku and Fire TV seems like a no-brainer, but obviously landing a deal with Apple for the Apple TV would be quite a bit more difficult. It would also slightly undermine Sony’s own hardware, but that ship has already sailed with this Samsung deal.

Earlier this year, Sony enabled Remote Play on the Xperia Z3, so mobile versions of PS Now are definitely possible. An Android version of PS Now could be quite a hit, but an iOS version seems problematic. Apple is notoriously puritanical when it comes to content featured in apps, so streaming M-rated games is probably not going to happen without a policy shift. Clearly, none of this works at all without controller support, but since the DualShock 4 uses simple industry standards like Bluetooth and micro-USB, that shouldn’t be a problem.

If you want to try out PS Now for yourself, you can easily do so right now on existing hardware. Obviously, the PS4 and PS3 support this game streaming service, but Sony has already started porting the PS Now app to other platforms as well. The PlayStation Vita, PlayStation TV, and select Sony Smart TVs can participate in the open beta, so you’re definitely not locked into the traditional console model.

For under $100, you can turn any HDTV into a full-fledged game streaming device with a PSTV and DualShock 3 bundle. The business model and game selection remain suboptimal for the time being, but I’m excited to see what Sony does with the service in the coming year.