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Xbox Game Pass vs PlayStation Now may yet become an actual contest

The Xbox Game Pass vs PlayStation Now battle isn’t really worthy of the name right now, but there are signs Sony is at least working towards making it a fairer fight. Perhaps even with Microsoft’s help.

The PlayStation-maker has confirmed the cloud streaming service, which offers access to hundreds of PS3 and PS4 era games, will finally be bumped up from 720p to 1080p.

The support won’t come to all games, but will be available on on “compatible” games from this week. UK gamers will be able to enjoy the upgrade too.

In a post on Twitter, Sony explains: “PlayStation Now will begin rolling out support for streaming 1080p capable games this week. The rollout will occur over the next several weeks across Europe, US, Canada, and Japan, where PlayStation Now is available.”

The announcement comes amid continued reports Sony is working on a response to Game Pass and its tremendous value proposition, about to be boosted further by cloud gaming arriving on popular web browsers for PC and iOS.

Related: Upcoming PS5 games

We’ve heard rumblings form SIE CEO Jim Ryan in recent months and the PlayStation boss is again promising a cloud gaming service that’s “unique and only on PlayStation”.

In comments to Nikkei, Ryan said it may be Microsoft that helps the company get it done. Ryan’s comments, translated by VGC, revealed Sony and Microsoft are working together on the matter, with an announcement coming in due course. Ryan is referring to Microsoft’s Azure cloud software that powers many of the web’s most robust platforms.

“We could conceivably use the cloud for our technical infrastructure, but the cloud gaming experience we’re offering will be unique and only on PlayStation,” Ryan said.

What would you like to see from Sony’s Game Pass rival? Let us know @trustedreviews on Twitter.

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