In news that will thrill eBay scalpers andalmost no one else, Warner Media has finally addedHBO Maxsupport to the PlayStation 5’s library of media streaming apps. While the service was already available for the PlayStation 4, the relative handful of lucky buyers who have managed to score a PS5 can now use it to watch HBO Max’s lineup of content.
The HBO Max app is available now for download via the PlayStation Store. Naturally, PS5 owners will still need a separate monthly subscription to HBO Max before they can watch it. However, like other media apps on the PlayStation family of products, those owners won’t also need to be onthe PlayStation Plus planbefore they can use their PS5 as a media device.
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This adds the PS5 toa list of HBO Max viewing optionsthat also includes Android, Android TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, iOS, and Samsung smart televisions, but doesn’t presently include Roku devices. HBO Max also debuted this week on Flex and Xfinity X1.
What this means in the long-term is that the PlayStation 5, in addition to whatever its game lineup ends up offering, also gets to host the day-one VOD releases for Warner Bros.’s 2021 film schedule,includingWonder Woman 1984, Tom & Jerry, Godzilla vs. Kong,the newestConjuringfilm,the Lin-Manuel Miranda adaptation ofIn the Heights,the LeBron James-frontedSpace Jam: A New Legacy,and James Gunn’sThe Suicide Squad.
As a consumer, that’s a big point in favor of shelling out for an HBO Max subscription. However, it is also seen as the next best thing to Warner Bros. outright killing thealready reeling American movie theater industry. The PS5 is hardly the only method by which to watch HBO Max, but the success or failure of the app on the system in 2021 is going to be watched closely by American media companies going forward.
This does further a tradition of thePlayStationending up as a crucial player in the evolution of mass media, independently of the individual consoles' libraries of games. The original PlayStation was considered one of the best-sounding CD players on the consumer market, while the PS2 had a key role in spurring the widespread adoption of DVDs. Even the PS3, as maligned as it often was among enthusiasts, was chiefly responsible for Blu-rays winning out over the competitive HD-DVD format.
With the current “streaming wars,” it’s not likely thathistory will repeat itselfwholesale, but the PS5 may still end up having a role to play here. That could includeHBO Maxmuscling into a higher-profile spot in the streaming Nielsens, or the quiet death of the mainstream American movie theater. Time will tell.
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