Sony has announced that it's going to shut down one of it's key PlayStation services as the company admits defeat against dwindling success in the Pay-TV Industry.
Late Tuesday night the technology giant confirmed that PlayStation Vue, it's TV streaming service, would be shut down on January 30th, 2020.
A PlayStation blog announced the news, with John Kodera, Deputy President of Sony Interactive Entertainment writing the following to the consoles loyal fanbase:
"Over four years ago, we made a bold decision to change the rules and revolutionize the traditional TV-viewing experience in the U.S. with PlayStation Vue. We set the bar high and sought to innovate an established industry by delivering a modern TV experience. By completely rethinking live and on demand television, we offered an incredible user experience that allowed viewers to discover and watch content in completely new ways."
"Today we are announcing that we will shut down the PlayStation Vue service on January 30, 2020. Unfortunately, the highly competitive Pay TV industry, with expensive content and network deals, has been slower to change than we expected. "
Though the cancellation of a core service is never great to see, this could actually be fantastic news for PlayStation fans in the UK.
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The fact is that the PlayStation Vue streaming service is not available in the UK and without a VPN the PSVue is inaccessible outside the US.
So why is this good? Well it means that PlayStation can move away from trying to be an all in one entertainment giant and focus on the things that really matter.
The games.
Something John Kodera even touches upon in his announcement, by saying "we have decided to remain focused on our core gaming business."
It also means that Sony can ensure they place more time, effort and energy into making their other key digital gaming services even better.
Whilst PlayStation Plus is the core driver of revenue for the company, it may well benefit the company to put more focus on PlayStation Now as we head into a new console generation.
Jim Ryan, President and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment has already placed a lot of emphasis on PlayStation Now as the company begins to lay the foundations of it's PS5 console plans.
It's only natural, with Google Stadia and Xbox xCloud making strong plays to be the dominant cloud gaming console.
Already this year Sony has cut the price of PlayStation Now in half (at least in the US).
In the UK it's still gone down, falling from £12.99 a month down to £8.99. But at the same time PlayStation strengthened their hand by adding some high-profile blockbuster games that have otherwise not been adopted by the streaming service previously.
This first wave included God of War, Grand Theft Auto V, inFamous Second Son and Uncharted 4: A Thief's End. But Sony say they have more "marquee games" in the pipeline.
However, Sony choose to improve their digital services as we approach the new console era, it will be without PlayStation Vue.
And that's probably for the better.
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