PlayStation Now will allow subscribers to play some of the platform’s greatest hits without the need to own a console.

It works by streaming data from the company’s servers. The firm’s latest smart TVs will be among the first devices to support it, but Sony also intends to offer the facility to other third-party products.

One expert said the firm had a rich back catalogue to draw on.

“It’s a pretty big asset,” said Brian Blau from the tech consultancy Gartner.

“You can imagine the hundreds of years of manpower that went into building it up, and now they can get value from it for a long time into the future.”

Sony said it would launch a restricted test of the service in the US later this month before a wider launch in the summer.

It has not provided details of plans for other markets yet or information of which smartphone and table platforms will be the first to get apps to run the facility.

  playstation, soney