PS4 Remote Play PC to be released this week, will be a paid app
Developer Twisted, the creator of Remote Play PC (an app to use the PS4 Remote Play functionality on your PC), announced today that he will be releasing the first version of his app this Wednesday. There is a catch though: the app will not be free.
What is PS4 Remote Play PC?
The official version of PS4 Remote Play is limited to a tiny subset of Android devices: Sony XPeria smartphones and tablets. Twisted created an unofficial port of the Sony android app, and his mod enables PS4 Remote Play on most Android devices.
In parallel, Twisted has been working on a complete port of the PS4 Remote Play client for PC. This is the port that will be released this week.
Remote Play for PC will not be free
In a post on his blog today, Twisted announced that the PS4 Remote Play PC app will not be free. Although the final price needs to be confirmed, he is targeting a price point of approximately $10.
Some of you might get angry to learn that this will be a paid app. In particular on the hacking scene, we tend to assume such tools will be free, if not open source. But as a developer myself, I think it’s up to the dev to make that call, and it’s great for Twisted if he can make a living out of his work. In Twisted’s words:
I was planning on waiting until release to address this but I’ve seen it mentioned a few times and I don’t want to mislead anyone – I know a lot of you will be disappointed by this but I’m afraid Remote Play PC will not be free and you will be required to purchase it. Now before you all start shouting ‘Bloody money grabber! Release it for free!’ hear me out.
I’ve been working on this project mostly part time for over a year when the Android version was first released in October 2014. I’ve lost count the amount of hours I’ve put in over this time but I’ve enjoyed every moment working on this project which leads me onto my main point. I’d like to work on this project full time, adding features, getting it stable and porting it to other platforms which I know a lot of you want! The only way to support this is to charge for the app, all my previous projects have been free and I don’t want to have to but sadly its the only way to support my living costs. On the plus side this means I have more time to work on the project and provide support to its users, something which I’ve been limited on in the past.
But making the application a paid one could open a can of worms. First of all, users’ expectations change wildly for a paid app. People who buy Remote Play PC will expect it to actually work flawlessly. Beyond potential aggressive bug reports, I am worried of what happens the day Sony decides to increase security on their streaming system, and block Remote Play PC. Do users get a refund at that point?
Additionally, the legal status of Remote Play PC is unclear to me. Twisted has himself admitted that his Remote Play app is the result of reverse-engineering Sony’s official Android client (Update: I cannot find any statement about this anymore. Twisted has mentioned that the PC Remote play was a parallel project, not that it was directly the result of reverse engineering. I still think however that the two projects being linked are an issue, as there’s no doubt some level of reverse engineering of the PS4 streaming protocol was required, + breaking some of the encryption). In general, distributing such work is prohibited in most countries, and adding a “paid” aspect to it could be adding fuel to the fire. I feel that Twisted could easily get a “cease and desist” from Sony, and that would be the end of it. Users will be left in the cold.
This doesn’t mean the project is any less exciting than it was when Twisted first announced it. I can’t wait to try PS4 Remote Play PC, personally.
What do you guys think? Is it a good or a bad move to make it a paid app?
”Is it a good or a bad move to make it a paid app?”
No, it is disgusting and greedy, he is basically ripping off Sony’s code and selling it.
You’re totally right! “Disgusting” is the good word.
you’re free to not buy. people who always expecting free things are disgusting one, free-to-play anyone?
Well smart one who hides behind a fake name, i won’t be buying it, i thought that was beyond obvious by now.
Perhaps your English reading skills are as bad as your English writing skills 🙂
Are you joking? He’s not “ripping off” their code, he’s worked hard for months on this and if he makes a product people are willing to pay for he should. You’re not owed jack and you’re not entitled to someone’s work for free. And Sony couldn’t care less if you’re white-knighting them or not.
”You’re not owed jack and you’re not entitled to someone’s work for free.”
Well said, unfortunately Twisted does not believe this himself, as his forum is using a pirated version of Invision Board, so the irony in your post is obvious.
As far as Sony is concerned, i don’t give a *** about them, though you seem to be ‘Richard’ riding Twisted so much, that you do not care that he is illegally using a forum software that he is using to sell this so called 100% his own application.
Well you hit the two concerns that I was gonna comment about. Can he legally charge for it since without Sony getting their panties in a bunch and can he maintain it through all the security updates? Like you said the problem with a paid app is that people expect it to work and with the nature of remote play, the ps4 and sony’s updates he can’t guarantee that there may not be a few days of downtime after a big update,if not weeks. Still, I’m glad to see a dedicated dev committing to the scene through a paid app. Until those two questions are answered though I’ll be keeping my money in my pocket.
Sony owns the technology + paid app = insta c&d
Remember they do monitor the hacking scene
I wanted to use it so much and then i saw it’s gonna cost money.
i think that 10$ is too much, if the price will stand on 1-5$ i think ill buy it.
He has every right to want charge money for an application he develops.
He does not have the right to sell an application Sony made, which he modified. Sony will catch wind and shut it down very quickly, and everyone will end up torrenting it for free anyway.
Then a change in protocol and we will lose it within weeks…
Saw this comment and though I’d just clarify – I haven’t stolen or copied anyone’s code, it is entirely my own homebrew c++ code. Sony did not make this!
”Twisted has himself admitted that his Remote Play app is the result of reverse-engineering Sony’s official Android client.”
So Wololo is lieing ?
You know if you got a job, you could earn money and not have to charge people for an app that is free everywhere else 🙂
Sadly I’m having a hard time getting to the source of this statement (My company network is blocking the xda-dev cdn right now): it was on xda-dev, where Twisted said something along the lines of “I spent lots of times reverse engineering the Android app, and this has led to me writing a port on PC”.
I think that alone indicates that “some” knowledge was gathered from the Android client reverse. I’m not pretending the entire app was a reverse engineering product, but from a legal standpoint the difference is slim.
Edit: Apologies, I cannot find such a statement anymore. Twisted uses words such as “in parallel” or “alongside”, but not a clear statement saying ” I reverse engineered the Android app”. He also mentions video encryption and snatching the PS4 password. My point was not to say that some of Sony’s work was stolen in any way, but to say that he is at legal risk given the laws on reverse-engineering. If he acquired some information, any information, through reverse engineering of Sony’s security (which he necessarily did since he found a password and is bypassing some encryption) there is good ground for a lawyer to get nasty.
So you think because someone has a source of income they should just work for months to reverse engineer this tech and give it to you just for free like that? How is anything like this “free everywhere else”?
I don’t know where and how to contact you, but I wanted to ask if and how this fares over a WAN connection? With lets say a ping of <50. Would be really cool if I could use this to play on my PS4 while out of the house.
Charging for this is a really bad idea. You are going to catch flack from both the would be users, who will just end up pirating it, as well as from Sony who will likely C&D you regardless of whether or not you used entirely your own code. Make it free, and ask for donations. The homebrew communities are generous and you will actually probably get more from donations that you would from people willing to pay for it.
Where legality is concerned I feel this is a bad idea, but from a “he’s a dev he can choose what he wants to do” standpoint I think it’s only fair. The whole time I was reading the article I was thinking about what would happen once, not if, he get’s his first Sony nastygram.
Honestly, I also fear that Remote Play PC would be called to stop by Sony. I’d like to freely use that and donate, but probably won’t buy it considering the risk.
bad idea, when will these guys learn that paid apps are a thing of the past, you might make a few quick bucks but will end bad in the long run. Your better off adding a donation button on the app.
1. People will find a way to get the app for free anyways, see every other game with DRM.
2. Another party can come in and release their own version of the app for free, making yours useless
3. People are don’t want to pay for a feature that’s already free on other platforms and will just paint you as greedy, it does not cost money to remote play on Vita/PSTV, Wii U game pad, Steam or Nvida Shield outside of the normal hardware cost.
4. If he did port sony’s android app to pc, charging for someone else’s code is just asking to get your operation shut down
Well, if he’ll get in trouble for it eventually, then it’s probably best to treat this as a side project he looks at every chance he can/he feels like it. The most important thing here in my opinion is if he’ll get sued or a best case scenario, simply shut down.
I feel for Twisted, but I don’t think Sony does for whatever reason PR tells them too.
Tbh I don’t mind. $10 is nothing, and the dev should get paid for all the work he put into this. Im sure if he got a job flipping burgers he would have got more money than he might with this project.
not smart, his breakthrough is spreading to many gaming outlets and they are all mentioning the steep price on technology he doesnt own.
Sad to say but he wont last a day in the squarch
Paid App = this App will be removed soon after Sony go against it.
It is one thing to make something that a Company don’t want to see and release it for free for everyone, but a soon you make Money with it the Company go against it. On Reason is because the Company didn’t see Money from it and it is a App that is no official one. When a Company want to see such thing they make there own selling App.
How does the lag compare with the official PS4 remote play app? Is it improved in Twisted’s apps?
Should have gone the free app with donation button route imo.
Watch he get sue by sony. There reason Ps2 emulator cant be sold. because they will sue them. But make it free only way get away get sued
Just Like Other OS On PS3……Not For Me Unless Its FREE.
for me it is fine to pay for it, but i expect to get a copy of the source with it.
its a complicated issue for sure. If it works as well as advertised and there are little to no issues then its fair that he can slap a price on it but if as mentioned in the article it gets blocked later on then what happens to people who purchased it? do they have to stay on a low FW essentially restricting online play for it? As for whether or not i’d pay for it, it all depends on if the features are worth the cost. This is the first i’ve ever heard of this app so i’m definitely gonna have to do some preliminary research before i commit to anything
I’m fine with paying for it. 10$ is a little on the high side, though.
Just hope he doesn’t get smited by Sony.
Although it seems to be expensive and there is a risk Sony will block it, by a “cease and desist" or changing the security protocol, I will surely pay for it.
Why? Juste because Twisted has done a lot for Android Users, and he’s trying to make something Sony should have done long time ago.
So congrats and I will support him
Should just go the free route and have a donation button. Because if it’s really good or you show that you’re applying updates pretty steady then the end user will see and show their support. By making it $10 then the user expects it to work right away with very little issue. Show them what you’re doing and you’ll get paid, don’t ask to be paid before showing what your going to do. People want to see progress before they decide to show their support for a project. It’s a neat project, but honestly I’ve never heard of it until today. Good luck to you.
It’s a bad, bad idea. But, well, he will (trying) sells it, someone WILL crack it and everyone will use for free.
If it is cracked and free i will be excited as it will be absolutely worth getting
Making this a payed app surely isn’t the way to go. But I’m willingly paying 10$, that’s not that much.
Ok fine i will pay for it i love ad free apps anyway imagine getting geico or tmobile ad every 45 min while playing a game id go mad and delete the app
Where a free app would probably not attract any attention from Sony, making a profit of their streaming services will likely not go unnoticed… I think he’d better watch out, or he might face punishment… I might buy it if it actually turns out to work as good as he says
Just wanted to say, I fully appreciate your work on this application, and I will have no problem paying for it.
Instead of doing meaningless app, the PS4 scene could work at least on some CFW or hacks! also because the right PS4 hardware are on sale from some time http://www.ebay.com/itm/281857824565 we want a f…… custom firmware!
Well why don’t you go buy that nice little system and make us a CFW 🙂