HBO GO, the premium programmer’s authenticated TV Everywhere service, will soon reach an important, new destination when the service debuts on the Sony PlayStation 3 and the recently-launched PlayStation 4.
No specific dates were set, but Sony noted on its blog that HBO CEO Richard Plepler announced the partnership Thursday at the Buzzfeed Brews event in New York City. HBO GO will show up first on the PlayStation 3 and follow on the PlayStation 4, noted Phil Rosenberg, Sony Computer Entertainment America’s SVP of business development.
“Keep checking back here for more updates on when the HBO GO app will be available to download on PS3 and PS4,” Rosenberg noted.
HBO GO's debut on the PS3 will occur before the new season of Game of Thrones, which premieres April 6, an HBO spokeswoman said.
For HBO, the arrangement finally gets its app on the popular gaming platform, which counts about 25 million domestic PlayStation 3 users. As of December 28, Sony had shipped 4.2 million PS4 consoles worldwide.
The hook-up with HBO also comes a week after Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai announced at the International CES confab that Sony plans this year to test an over-the-top pay TV service in the U.S. that will offer a lineup of live TV, video-on-demand content and a digital video recorder service.
The PlayStation platform is set to join an expanding list of devices that support HBO GO, including iOS and Android-powered tablets and smartphones, the Google Chromecast adapter, the Kindle Fire tablet, the Roku platform, Xbox 360 and Samsung smart TVs. HBO GO is also one of the entertainment apps poised to be offered on the Xbox One, Microsoft’s new gaming console.
