We don’t have the PS5? We can play its games even without the console, using some game streaming services.
The Sony PlayStation 5 console (which we will briefly call PS5) has really conquered everyone, even users who don’t play very often but who have tried to grab one of the most desired consoles anyway, despite limited supplies (at least for the first months of launch) . Although the stock situation will improve with the passage of time, it is not certain that all users are willing to wait for the arrival of their console, wanting to immediately play the titles released on the market.
If we too are among the users who do not want to wait or who are still looking for a good alternative, in this guide we will show you how to play PS5 games (or at least some of them) even without the console , still benefiting from the screaming graphics and all the advantages of the Sony console without physically owning it!
How to play without a console
Obviously it is not possible to replicate the technical characteristics of the PS5 in the living room or bedroom, but we can take advantage of some video game streaming services to play the same games available on PS5 without owning the console, so that we can use our PC or TV in the living room. to play immediately without waiting for stocks or availability.
Play with PS Now
If we want to play a selection of games available for PS5 also on our faithful computer, all we have to do is sign up for a subscription to PS Now , the game streaming service offered by Sony itself and accessible at the official website .
To proceed with this unique opportunity we create our PlayStation account , sign up for a subscription to PS Now at a cost of € 9.99 per month (for payments we can use PayPal ), install the official PS Now client on our computer with Windows operating system, we open the client as soon as it is ready and type the login credentials created a little while ago.
In order to play any of the games included in the collection we will need to connect a game controller to the PC – any wired or wireless controller is fine, but for an immersive gaming experience we recommend purchasing a DUAL SHOCK 4 or a DualSense . If our computer does not have a Bluetooth connection (necessary to connect the wireless controllers), we can fix it immediately by purchasing a USB Bluetooth adapter , available on Amazon for less than 10 €.
Play with Google Stadia
If we are looking for an alternative to PS Now on PC or want to re-propose the PS5 gaming experience on the TV in the living room, we can rely on the service offered by Google Stadia , accessible from the official website .
With this service we will be able to both buy real games and take advantage of an ever-new collection of games by subscribing to a subscription to Stadia Pro (from € 9.99 per month, with a free trial period of one month).
To play on PC, simply download and open the Google Chrome browser , access the Stadia service with a Google account (the one used on an Android smartphone or the account used for Gmail or YouTube is fine), buy a game or subscribe to the Stadia Pro subscription, connect any game controller and finally press on the desired game; in a few seconds the game will start inside the browser window and we can put it in full screen by pressing F11, so as to play without other distractions on the screen.
If, on the other hand, we want to bring PS5 games to the living room or bedroom on the TV but without the console, we will have to buy the Google Stadia Premiere Edition kit (at a cost of € 99.99), which includes a Chromecast Ultra and an optimized Stadia controller .
In order to take advantage of this solution and play the titles for PS5 (obviously the cross-platform games also compatible with Stadia), first we download the Stadia app on our Android phone, we log in to the app with the Google account created for Stadia , we press the Stadia button on the controller for two seconds and (when it starts vibrating) we open the Stadia app, select the controller in our possession, confer on Yes and Continue and select the Wi-Fi network we are using on the phone (to connect to other networks we can use the item Choose another network ).
Now that the controller is connected to the home Wi-Fi network, connect the Chromecast Ultra to an HDMI socket on the TV, connect to the same Wi-Fi network , turn on the controller by pressing the Stadia button for a second and, as soon as the code on the screen, press the displayed keys to finish the configuration. In the new screen, press on + on the TV screen, press on the avatar in the upper right corner and finally select Add account to Chromecast .
We are now ready to play! Whenever we turn on the Stadia Controller, the Chromecast will open the game menu, so we can select our account and start playing the games we have purchased or the games included in the Stadia Pro collection.
Conclusions
By using the game streaming services we will be able to play some PS5 games (including Cyberpunk 2077 ) even without having the console. The trick of both services is that they take advantage of dedicated servers that start the game and generate the graphics and audio for us : what we see on the PC or TV screen is in effect an audio / video stream , to which we send our inputs (to control the characters) via the controllers connected via Wi-Fi. Obviously in order to make the most of these services we must have a fairly fast Internet connection both in upload and download: for both we recommend that you try to play only if we have an Internet connection of at least 10 megabits per second in download and at least 2 megabits per second in upload.
If we use a PC, we suggest you connect it via Ethernet cable directly to the modem or, if we want to use Wi-Fi, use the 5GHz connection . The same goes for Chromecast Ultra: let’s connect it to the 5GHz Wi-Fi network to avoid interference and problems during streaming.
