PlayStation Now will require a DualShock controller for TVs, tablets, and phones
PlayStation Now could be the future of gaming, but you're going to need a proprietary controller to play. Though Sony has announced that the streaming game service will come to tablets and smartphones …
Context & Ripple Effects
Sony unveiled PlayStation Now at CES just days ago as a cloud service spanning TVs, consoles, and phones — a way to stream its back catalog onto devices that can't run discs, which matters given the confirmed report that the PlayStation 4 won't read games from earlier Sony consoles. The new wrinkle in this story: access on non-console screens requires a proprietary DualShock controller.
The requirement was picked up widely on the same day — CNET, BGR, Geek.com, Softpedia, and AndroidHeadlines all ran it — so it's being treated as a defining condition of the service, not a footnote.
First-order effects
- Anyone planning to use PlayStation Now on a TV, tablet, or smartphone has to buy a DualShock controller, raising the real cost of entry beyond whatever Sony charges for the streaming subscription itself.
Second-order effects
- Third-party controller makers are locked out of the non-console PlayStation Now market unless Sony licenses the pairing, concentrating accessory revenue around Sony's own hardware.
Third-order effects
- If streaming becomes the delivery mechanism for a console maker's catalog, the moat shifts from selling boxes to controlling the required peripheral — an early instance of platform lock-in moving from the console itself to the accessories and account that surround it.
The trend: Console makers are extending their platforms from dedicated hardware into streamed services on any screen, using proprietary controllers and accounts to keep the ecosystem closed.