RealNetworks, Sony Set Deal for PlayStation
Sony Corp. plans to include streaming audio and video technology from RealNetworks Inc. in hard disk drives for the PlayStation 2, enabling upgraded game consoles to offer subscription music services, movie rentals and personalized games.
The deal, expected to be announced today, buttresses Sony’s efforts to make the PS2 the hub of home entertainment. It also puts a significant Microsoft Corp. rival on Sony’s team to help it compete with Microsoft’s powerful Xbox console, which is due late this year.
The game consoles could be a boon to Web-based audio and video ventures, which have struggled in part because they’ve been confined to personal computers. The Real-powered PlayStation 2s, like the Xbox, will be able to deliver music and film right to a stereo or TV set.
“Strategically, it’s huge,” Larry Jacobson, RealNetworks’ president and chief operating officer, said of the deal with Sony. “It’s the first time we’ve gotten any mass distribution system off of the desktop.”
There’s no guarantee, however, that PlayStation 2 owners will buy the high-capacity hard disk drive, which won’t be available in the United States until the fall. Sony has not released a price.
Sony, RealNetworks and America Online Inc., which announced a partnership with Sony on Tuesday, all are developing subscription audio, video and game services that could be delivered to the Real-powered consoles.
One possibility, said M.Y. Jaisimha of RealNetworks’ consumer appliances division, is Internet-based games that let users pick their own soundtrack.
The companies eventually plan to include technology that would let users record video on the console’s hard drive, potentially turning the PlayStation 2 into a personal video recorder, Jacobson said.
