It all began with Netflix and YouTube, where the video quality was lowered. Now the time has come for restrictions on other websites.
PlayStation informed via its blog that due to the massive European internet usage due to the worldwide coronavirus outbreak, it has decided to impose a speed limit when downloading games and updates on PlayStation consoles. It is unclear how big this limit will be, but we have to be aware that downloads from PlayStation Store can be slower now.
It is also unclear for the time being how long the download speeds of our consoles will be limited for, but I suspect that PlayStation will follow Google and Netflix and the restrictions will continue for at least a month. Probably much longer than that.
Importantly, the restrictions are intended only for downloading games and apps from PlayStation Store. So we can rest assured that we’ll still be able to play online games in comfort. PlayStation has stressed that stability of the internet connection during online gaming is a priority for them and the company will do its utmost to ensure that their players do not suffer the effects of the internet load that is currently taking place in Europe.
What’s next?
By the way, the question that arises in my mind is whether the coronavirus will also add another ‘nail to the coffin’ to the GeForce Now? If the download speed of games on PlayStation is limited, we can talk about a minor inconvenience for some players. If similar restrictions are applied to cloud services such as GeForce Now from NVIDIA, we could be talking about a small disaster for this market segment.
So, have you noticed a decline in video quality on Netflix and other video streaming services recently?
