Sony Computer Entertainment announced on Wednesday that it is re-branding Sony Entertainment Network, its platform of media services spanning movies, TV, music and more. Seemingly taking a cue from Microsoft and the Xbox branding, the new Sony platform will now be called PlayStation Network (PSN) and will bring changes to several Sony media services.
According to Sony, the PlayStation Store, PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now remain unchanged. However, Video Unlimited is now re-branded as PlayStation Video and will provide movies and TV shows to PlayStation consoles, Sony devices and the PC. Sony boasts over 200,000 movies and TV shows, which can be purchased or rented on compatible devices.
As for Music Unlimited, this service will be shut down and replaced with PlayStation Music on March 29, 2015. This new service will be powered by Spotify and will roll out in 41 markets on Xperia phones and tablets, and on PlayStation consoles. Spotify's "deeply integrated" library will bring more than 30 million songs to Sony PlayStation Music customers.
With PS Music, fans will be able to subscribe to the premium Spotify service using the PlayStation Network Wallet. They will also have the ability to listen to PlayStation Music while playing games on the PlayStation 4, meaning gamers can create their own soundtrack and play it in the background. Spotify promises not only to enable users to create playlists, but it provides access to 1.5 billion playlists that are already available.
The company also mentioned PlayStation Vue on Wednesday, which is also part of the new PlayStation Network. This cloud TV service includes on-demand TV and live TV as well as "catch-up" TV content. PlayStation Vue is expected to launch in Q1 2015 and is currently in beta testing in Chicago, New York and Philadelphia.
"We are very excited to offer our wide array of network services including games, TV, videos and music, under the PlayStation brand," said Andrew House, President and Group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. and Group Executive in charge of the Network Entertainment Business. "We look forward to bringing even more compelling experiences, and an unparalleled breadth and quality of digital entertainment services and content to our customers."
This isn't the first time Sony has re-branded its network of media services. Sony Entertainment Network was launched in September 2011, unifying several of Sony's standalone services – PlayStation Network, Qriocity Music and Qriocity Video – under one roof. The Qriocity services were re-branded as Music Unlimited and Video Unlimited.
Will renaming the media services again make a difference in revenue? The company previously re-branded and established a unified network because it wanted a global platform that leveraged the Sony brand. Now the company is placing all of its media bets on the PlayStation brand, which may be a more familiar name to consumers.
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