14 DAY TRIAL // After a year of rumors related to both the Nintendo Wii and the PlayStation 3, it was finally confirmed that the Netflix streaming service would be launched on the Sony home console. And, now, Steve Swasey, who is the vice president for corporate communication at Netflix, has described in some more detail how the service will work on the PS3 and what plans the company has for the future.
Speaking to GameSpot, Swasey has described the ultimate goal of his organization as “to be on all the screens and all the platforms you can watch movies on.” The PlayStation 3 is just a stepping stone, but an important one, mainly because of the big install base, which the console has in the United States. At the moment, those interested in the service will require a Blu-ray disk to get it to work, apart from the Internet connection that is a clear necessity, but the collaboration between Sony and Netflix is set to incorporate the service into the XMB at some point during the spring of 2010, as it is now integrated into Xbox Live.
Swasey also says that, “It's the same thing on all the devices, whether it's a TV, Blu-ray disc player, or game console. The streaming functionality is the same” and that it is up to Sony whether it will be offering exclusive content from the Sony Pictures library through the service. The Netflix executive has also disclosed that there will be no interconnectivity between Sony Bravia television sets that will get Netflix and the PlayStation 3 console from Sony.
Netflix moving to the PlayStation 3 is a very important step for Sony. On the Xbox 360, you need to have an Xbox Live Gold subscription, which costs money, to get access to the service, while, on the PS3, it's free, apart from the cost of the console and that of the Internet connection, which might give the Sony console an advantage in sales numbers.