The state of broadband in Europe was raised during Sony’s press conference at Gamescom. The average Broadband speed in Europe is just 5Mbps. The PS4 will have higher requirements for online gaming on the PS4 as it integrates features like streaming of game sessions to Twitch.tv.
To solve this issue, Sony are partnering with ISPs like Orange, T Mobile, ONO and Virgin Media to reserve dedicated pipes for gaming and will offer plans of up to 200Mbps. The only way this can be achieved would be for Sony to assist in the rollout of fibre networks.
They say they’ll have more info on this in the future and we’ll be watching with eagle eyes to see what happens here. If indeed they do assist in the financing of broadband infrastructure in Europe, it’ll be an important precedence for gaming companies and the attention will turn to Microsoft and perhaps Google to do the same.
With games, music and videos all being downloaded, or at least downloadable on the next generation consoles, broadband speeds will be an international issue. Thankfully Australia already has a plan to roll out an NBN, maybe we can get some private investment from console makers to help reduce the cost.
