Cloud gaming has never seemed closer. Sony’s $380-million Gaikai acquisition finally bore fruit at CES 2014, where the company announced PlayStation Now — a hugely ambitious initiative that could revolutionize the distribution of video games. PlayStation Now lets you stream PlayStation 3 games over the internet to almost any device imaginable, from Sony TVs and the PS Vita to smartphones and tablets. It’s not the first service to promise something similar, but Sony is certainly the biggest company to attempt it. And with the PlayStation 3’s vast library as a starting point, it’s the most likely to succeed.

Another thing: if Sony’s CES demos are any indication, PlayStation Now actually works, and works well. I played games like The Last of Us and God of War: Ascension streamed straight to the 5-inch screen of a PS Vita and a much larger Bravia TV and came away impressed. Image quality was mostly pristine and, although you could notice latency if you were looking for it, the experience was smooth enough that I don’t think the average player would mind. “I think what the consumers will see is gameplay that’s almost like playing on a console, very low latency,” said PlayStation VP of marketing John Koller in an interview with The Verge. “The immediacy is very important for us.” But despite all this, a lot of questions remain about PlayStation Now.