Sony is bringing PlayStation 4 Remote Play to PC and Mac

1 Mar 2016

Sony has revealed that gamers will soon be able to remotely play PlayStation 4 games on their PCs or Macs - just not yet though

PlayStation 4 gamers will soon be able to play their favourite games remotely via PC or Mac, Sony has revealed, ahead of the next major update from Sony, code-named Mushashi (or 3.50).

Unfortunately, the Remote Play feature won’t be available in the beta version of the firmware update Mushashi, which goes live tomorrow (2 March), but it is coming, Sony insists.

The arrival of universal PlayStation 4 gaming on PCs and Macs echoes a general shift in how tech giants are enabling game play.

Xbox rival Microsoft has already enabled Windows 10 users to mirror games directly from the console to their PC and Xbox chief Phil Spencer has hinted that the Xbox One may be the last actual physical console generation from Microsoft, with efforts afoot to make games universally available and allow Xboxes to be upgraded just like PCs.

While Remote Play won’t feature in the beta, Sony says it will come with the full update.

PlayStation 4 update includes streaming, friend notifications and new incognito mode

But what does feature relates to improvements in software, particularly PSN and online gameplay.

Users will receive Friend Online Notifications the moment friends come online and notifications can be tailored to certain friends.

A new incognito mode called Appear Offline will allow users to watch movies or play a game without interruption. This can be set up from your Profile or from the Quick Menu.

Users will be able to organise a games session using User Scheduled Event – users who register for an event will be automatically added to a part to start playing right away.

Sony will also launch a new streaming service that will let users stream directly to Dailymotion from their PS4.

All in all, the console race appears to be blossoming into a digital evolution we can only have dreamed of before now.

And rather than the house, in this case, the player wins.

PlayStation 4 image via Shutterstock

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com