Earlier this week, PS5’s cloud streaming Beta officially rolled out to some PS5 users, and whilst we were only able to gather that the streaming will support up to 4K, Insider Gaming sources have provided us with more information on the streaming architecture.
Internally named Project Cronos (we previously reported this as Cronus), the new streaming architecture aims to build a robust PS5 streaming experience that will serve as a major step forward in the company’s growth in the ever-growing market.
It’s understood that the development of Cronos began 5 years ago due to the complexity surrounding the PlayStation 5’s SSD. Whilst the SSD is very fast in the PS5, it created a new challenge that made it impossible for Sony to develop the infrastructure needed using current technology on the market (functionality, latency, etc.). This meant that Sony, under the Future Technology Group, designed a completely new network storage solution based on PCIe (NTB) which leverages NTB and the PS5 I/O co-processors.
The final product is a custom storage server under the codename ‘Kura’ which reads up to 5 GB/s with <1ms latency.
Sources said that Sony will have a total of 28 data centers across 15 metros for the PS5 Cloud streaming rollout, with its plans to fully launch the feature in FY23 (April 2023 – March 2024).
The official PlayStation blog outlined in June, “First off, we have very exciting news for PlayStation Plus Premium members. We’re currently testing cloud streaming for supported PS5 games – this includes PS5 titles from the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog and Game Trials, as well as supporting digital PS5 titles that players own. When this feature launches, cloud game streaming for supported PS5 titles will be available for use directly on your PS5 console. That means as a Premium member, it’ll be easier to jump into your favorite games without downloading them first onto your PS5 console. Our goal is to add this as an additional benefit to PlayStation Plus Premium as part of our ongoing efforts to enhance the value of PlayStation Plus.
For more from Insider Gaming, check out everything we know about the Playstation 5 Pro.
