Spotify arrives on PlayStation, your choice of music in games

Sometimes, game music can be incredible, and you just want to listen to it when you leave the game. This reviewer certainly has his favourite soundtracks in mind, but not all are like it, and game music can often fail. In these times, it’s nice to pipe your own music through, which is why a collaboration between Sony and Spotify is such a big deal.

You might have heard that Sony’s Music Unlimited was coming to an end, with the music streaming service ending on March 29 being reported back in January.

If you can believe it, a couple of months have passed and Music Unlimited is no more, but Spotify has arrived, and while you can now use a PlayStation 3 or PlayStation 4 video game console to play those music tracks through a Spotify account, it will do something else you might not expect.

sony-playstation-spotify-replace-music-unlimited-2015-03

That is, it can act as a soundtrack to some of the games you play on your console, as Spotify will provide background listening on at least one of the consoles, the PlayStation 4.

For that console, you’ll find a listening mode making it possible to play your playlists while you’re getting into your games, something you’ve only been able to do before if you grabbed your regular music player and bypassed the sound altogether using headphones.

“Music has always been a big part of gaming,” said Gustav Söderström, Spotify’s Chief Product Officer.

“I remember playing computer games like Quake and Counter-Strike with my favourite tunes on in the background – taking the experience to a whole new level. With today’s launch, we’re bringing back that magic of gaming with music – all in a beautifully designed and smooth experience that looks great on the big screen.”

sony-playstation-spotify-replace-music-unlimited-2015-05

Spotify’s inclusion to Sony’s PlayStation service is available now via Playstation Music for a monthly cost, though previous Music Unlimited subscribers will be transitioned with a two month trial to Spotify Premium, with the service also working across Xperia smartphones and tablets, too, replacing Music Unlimited.