New interview sheds light on PlayStation Now's past, future

Sony acquired game streaming company Gaikai back in 2012, and today Game Informer published a wide-ranging interview with Gaikai CEO David Perry that (among other things) sheds some light on how that deal came about.

"We were very worried because we were doing only PC games," says Perry, who goes on to run down the list of troubles Gaikai had while trying to get PC builds of games streaming through their network: translating keyboard and mouse control layouts to TV-friendly gamepads, translating resolutions in real-time and sorting out credentials for proprietary publisher platforms like Games For Windows Live.

"We wanted to get [on a platform] where there was a large set of very high-quality games but with a standardized control system, something that used a joypad that all the games would be compatible with," says Perry. "And it didnt have crazy random security systems included."

Perry also said with PlayStation Now being built into Sony TVs, the service will be able to offer higher-quality games than what mainstream TV users are used to. "[You] go to the games section [of your new TV] and youre like 'Oh man, its bowling and darts.' [But] thats where we need to put The Last of Us and the best that our industry can make."

Sony (and, by extension, Perry) has previously said that Gaikai's technology suite will one day be capable of streaming old games -- think PlayStation 1, 2 and 3 -- on contemporary consoles. The current version of PlayStation Now is capable of streaming PlayStation 3 titles, but Perry says that going back farther requires further work on the Gaikai technology platform and support directly from Sony's Japanese division, since it's not like he can easily ask the individual developers on those games to dig back into their source code and build in support for PlayStation Now.

"You want to always try to think about how you can unlock the past. I would love to be able to unlock every game ever on any 3D platform," says Perry. "I cant do that by requiring all the [old] teams to touch their code...that would be Sony of Japan doing this."

The full interview, which contains more technical details about Gaikai's operating structure and the challenges it faces as global broadband speeds slowly grow, can be read over on the Game Informer website.

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New interview sheds light on PlayStation Now's past, future