Earlier this week, Sony opened the gates to the PS5 cloud streaming testing phase by inviting select PlayStation Plus Premium subscribers to test the feature. Early reports revealed that 4K streaming is already supported, making it an improvement in streaming quality over Microsoft’s XCloud, which is currently limited to FullHD (1080p) streaming.
Today, renowned insider Tom Henderson shared some new information on the PS5 cloud streaming project from his sources. According to Henderson, Project Cronos started development five years ago. It took a long time because the PS5’s cutting-edge data storage solution made it necessary to develop a custom infrastructure. Sony handled that through its FTG (Future Technology Group), designing a new network storage server codenamed Kura. The report says it can read up to 5GB/s of data with less than one millisecond (1 ms) latency.
Sony reportedly plans to fully launch the PS5 cloud streaming feature to the public within this fiscal year, with a rollout of 28 datacenters spread across 15 key metropolitan areas. Right now, PS5 cloud streaming only works on the console, but it seems unlikely Sony would relegate it to such a niche usage scenario when it’s about to launch the Project Q handheld designed specifically for the cloud. Moreover, this technology could eventually make its way to PlayStation NOW, which is also available on PC.
In other PS5 news, Sony announced it has sold 41.7 million units to date. The Japanese corporation also revised its forecast for the current fiscal year upward due to an expected increase in sales of non-first-party titles, including add-on content, and the impact of foreign exchange rates.
