It has been four years since Sony launched its effort to revitalize the standard TV viewing experience, but now it’s coming to an end.
Sony’s Deputy President of Sony Interactive Entertainment, John Kodera, has officially announced today that Sony will be shutting down its PlayStation Vue service as of January 30, 2020. Kodera is fairly open and transparent about the decision, saying that the “highly competitive Pay TV industry” and the “expensive content and network deals” did not change as quickly as Sony had originally hoped.
As a result, PS Vue is getting shuttered early next year.
Over four years ago, we made a bold decision to change the rules and revolutionize the traditional TV-viewing experience in the U.S. with PlayStation Vue. We set the bar high and sought to innovate an established industry by delivering a modern TV experience. By completely rethinking live and on demand television, we offered an incredible user experience that allowed viewers to discover and watch content in completely new ways.
Today we are announcing that we will shut down the PlayStation Vue service on January 30, 2020. Unfortunately, the highly competitive Pay TV industry, with expensive content and network deals, has been slower to change than we expected. Because of this, we have decided to remain focused on our core gaming business.
PlayStation Vue was a way to cut the cord, so to speak, and pay a monthly fee to access a range of networks and stations. It could also be used as a standard cable log-in for most services, making it possible for you to use your log-in credentials to log in and view content with a third-party app.
While they aren’t the same thing, it’s certainly curious timing with Apple TV+ set to launch on November 1, and Disney+ going live on November 12. Still, Vue was one of the more positively-rated TV streaming services out there, so it’s unfortunate to see it departing.
PlayStation 4 owners can still use the PlayStation Store and the third-party apps to watch movies and TV shows on their console.
Finally, Kodera says he’s proud of Vue and what it accomplished even in its short lifespan:
We are very proud of what PlayStation Vue was able to accomplish. We had ambitious goals for how our service could change how people watch TV, showcasing PlayStation’s ability to innovate in a brand-new category within the Pay TV industry. We want to thank all of our customers, some of whom have been with us since PlayStation Vue’s launch in 2015.
Did you subscribe to PlayStation Vue? If so, what are you going to do now that the service is shutting down?