You Can Play PS Plus Games Without Owning a PS5, but There’s a Catch

If you’ve been looking for a new app that lets you stream your PlayStation games without bringing new hardware into the mix, you’re in luck: meet Asobi: Remote Play.

Being able to stream your games onto other devices isn’t anything new in gaming. There’s the Logitech G Cloud for Xbox and the PS Portal, both of which are ideal for any gamer who likes to be flexible with what they play. However, while the app is currently free to access once you request entry on Steam, it also comes with a pretty important catch.

Developed and published by Inside Internet, Asobi is a new cloud-streaming app that lets players stream their PS4 and PS5 games to their Steam Deck, Steam Machine, and/or other SteamOS and Linux devices without owning those consoles. However, as noticed by VideoCardz, the most fascinating feature about the app is its ability to allow users to stream from the PlayStation Plus cloud without actively requiring either a PS4 or PS5 console.

This means that, depending on whether the game is available in Sony’s cloud catalog servers and whether the user has a PlayStation Plus Premium subscription and PSN account, they can access and stream games directly from PlayStation’s server on the devices mentioned above. For Steam Deck and Machine users, this is now a much more accessible way to play PlayStation games that might otherwise not be available on PC and, even better, doesn’t break the bank.

Furthermore, Asobi’s developer, Ichenzo of Inside Internet, announced everything players needed to know about the playtest on the app’s subreddit. There, he wrote that all premium features for the app, such as 4K upscaling, haptic feedback, controller haptics, and 1080p/60 fps streaming, would be unlocked for all users until the full release debuts on the Steam Store. They also shared that more invites are going out day by day, so if you’ve signed up and haven’t received anything yet, “give it a little time.”

As good as this all sounds, it would be wrong to go in thinking that Asobi is perfect. The app is still being tested and, according to VideoCardz, some users are reporting problems with being unable to play games that should otherwise be available.

Still, Asobi is offering a new way for PlayStation gamers to play without having to buy a console, just as these keep getting more expensive.