Last year, HBO announced its new HBO Now service with great fanfare and launched it just in time for the premiere of Game of Thrones season 5. The service—an analogue to HBO Go that doesn’t require a cable subscription—was initially quite limited and has since widened its reach, but it’s still denied to a huge swath of us: Those with PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles as media centers. And now another season of Game of Thrones is looming. Can HBO Now roll out in time?
When Will HBO Now Come To PS4 And Xbox One?
When it was first announced, HBO Now seemed like the Holy Grail we had long desired—a chance to watch HBO without a cable TV subscription, for just $15 a month! It even has the same interface and features, essentially, as the HBO Go service, which is limited to subscribers. Alas, like the Holy Grail, it was nigh unattainable: HBO struck a devil’s bargain, limiting HBO Now exclusively to Apple TV owners and customers of select ISPs for the first three months… months that just happened to coincide with Game of Thrones season 6.
Since then, the exclusivity agreement has expired, and HBO Now works a lot better (did that agreement sell lots of Apple TVs?). You can now use HBO Now via several formats and devices, including Roku, Chromecast, Amazon FireTV or FireTVstick, and a variety of Android-based televisions. You can also watch HBO Now on your computer (stop the presses!), on most Androids and iPhones, on iPads and on Amazon Fire tablets. That’s not too bad, and it has a lot of options.
But a gasp-inducing 20 percent of streaming on HBO Go comes from Xbox Ones and PS4s, according to CNET, and that’s a huge chunk of the potential HBO Now audience. The service doesn’t yet work on either console and even though there are ways to work around it for the technically minded, no official or easy support is available. It’s frustrating, especially with the Game of Thrones season 6 premiere date less than a month away.
It’s worth mentioning that HBO has already committed to rolling out on the consoles; as early as last February, the network told CNET that it planned to debut on the systems eventually. But time is running out. HBO has said nothing about its timeline for the further rollout, but at this point, there are no exclusivity agreements in the way. HBO has every incentive to roll HBO Now out to home entertainment systems, even if there are some technical hurdles. And if they do… that’s a lot more $15 a month subscriptions.
Do you subscribe to HBO Now? If not, will you for the next season of Game of Thrones? What platforms or devices do you use HBO Now on?
