Last week the PlayStation 4 got a huge firmware update that added a host of great features. Among them was one called Shareplay, a utility that allows you to stream your game directly to a friend via the internet. But that's not all. Your friend can virtually take over your controller or the controller of a another local profile. What does that mean? Local co-op games can now be played online.
So how does it work? Here's the step-by-step breakdown of starting a Shareplay Co-Op Session.
- Start a party and invite your friend.
- Start a game you want to play with your friend, then hit the share button on your controller.
- Choose Shareplay and invite your friend via the party screen. At this point they can see your screen.
- Sign in another controller and give it a guest profile.
- Now go back to the Shareplay option and select "Give Controller to Visitor"
- Select "Play game together"
- Enjoy 1 hour of co-op goodness together.
There are some caveats. First the guests are limited to 720p 30FPS resolution and framerate on the video. While all games support Shareplay, certain limited access titles may not be available. Guests will not earn trophies and are required to have PlayStation Plus to actually take control of a game. The one hour time limit is per session, but you can immediately restart a session and continue playing with a friend.
Our impressions so far are solid, though we had some connectivity issues where the system complained about lack of bandwidth, for the most part it feels like the system works well.
Have you tried Shareplay yet? How has it worked for you?