Shuhei Yoshida has confirmed that the PlayStation 4, like the Xbox One, can use the power of cloud computing as and when it’s needed. Although the feature wasn’t mentioned in Sony’s E3 Press Conference, Yoshida says that developers are free to take advantage of the ability to do tough computational tasks in vast server farms.
The PS4 doesn’t require an online connection for games, so this feature won’t work if the console is offline, but Yoshida says developers can use the cloud if some features require an online connection.
“We don’t believe every title needs that, but if your title needs [an] online connection to provide some online features: go for it,” says Yoshida. Though there are limitations as to what processes can be offloaded to a remote computer, due to latency and bandwidth.
Sony will also be using the cloud to stream games to the PS3, PS4 and PS Vita, but this service won’t launch until sometime in 2014, and will first be available only in North America.