Sony is making a rebranded version of its Bravia Core streaming service available on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 consoles. It’s called Sony Pictures Core, and is essentially the same as the Bravia Core app that first launched on Sony’s Smart TVs and smartphones a couple of years ago.
Sony’s big claim to fame with Bravia Core has always been that it offers higher picture quality than rivals such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, due to its higher bitrates. When the service was announced in January 2021, Sony claimed bitrates of between 30 Mbps and 80 Mbps, matching that of most 4K Blu-ray discs.
Sony PS4 and PS5 owners will now gain access to the service, which offers access to around 2,000 films from the Sony Pictures catalogue. It doesn’t offer any content from anyone else, though, so some might feel the selection is a bit limited. There’s some great movies nonetheless, such as the highly-rated Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and some that most will feel are downright terrible, such as Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Of course, there are plenty of “okay” options, such as The Equalizer and Bullet Train.
In the case of new Sony Pictures films, some will launch with an early access window available to Bravia Core/Pictures Core viewers only. It means they’ll be allowed to see such movies before their theatrical release. The promised early access titles include Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story, and will be available in the U.S., Canada, New Zealand and Australia. There was no mention of the U.K. getting early access, but Sony said more countries will be added soon.
In addition, Sony said PlayStation Plus/Deluxe subscribers will get instant access to around 100 films that they can stream on demand with no added costs. These films include Looper, Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV, Elysium and Resident Evil Damnation at launch, but Sony said the catalogue will be updated frequently. In addition, PlayStation Plus and Deluxe subscribers were also promised “additional benefits”, with no mention of what these might be.
Although Sony Pictures Core only provides access to Sony Pictures content at launch, it will also add the anime streaming service Crunchyroll at a later date, though it hasn’t said when.
Sony hasn’t stated this, but it’s assumed that Pictures Core will offer the same higher bit-rate on PS consoles that’s available on its TVs. Sony said the Pictures Core app is available on PS4s and PS5s in 23 countries at launch, and will come to more later, though it didn’t provide a full list. The app can be downloaded from the PS5’s Media section, and the PS4’s PS Store. It won't automatically be installed.
To view content on Sony Pictures Core, users must purchase credits. The number of credits to watch differs from title to title. The fact it’s a premium, paid application may upset some PlayStation owners who previously bought Sony movies via the PlayStation Store, only for the company to withdraw access to this content and refuse to refund anyone.
The service will continue to be known as Bravia Core on Sony TVs until sometime next year.
