Are We Ready for Game Streaming?
It would appear that a new age in mobile gaming is being ushered in with the next wave of phones that are due to hit the market. Multiple platforms are launching gaming streaming services and with the availability of high speed connections reaching an acceptable state, playing our favourite PC and console games on the go is fast becoming a reality. OnLive (2009-2015) was the first instance of Cloud based gaming and it sounded cool, it really did.
Subscription based on-demand gaming was something truly exciting but the execution left much to be desired. A combination of locked ecosystems, failure to attract key demographics and various investment shenanigans would eventually lead to the demise of the service. Having tried OnLive, I was excited by the potential but not by the product itself. Perhaps it was a situation of a great idea caving in to current limitations of consumer technology and network infrastructure.
Here we are in a new decade and some of the biggest companies are placing their chips again on game streaming. Google released Stadia in 2019 with a lukewarm reception. Nvidia GeForce NOW has ended its beta program and their founders scheme is ready to roll, allowing you to play your games anywhere on many devices and platforms via their powerful services. I’ve tried this and loved the experience. Network connectivity is of course the biggest concern now when it comes to cloud gaming but hardware and networking is in a new age and it’s only getting better.
There are complaints about multiple titles being removed from the GeForce NOW service and nobody knows just how many games will be removed, it will be down to business and deals and positioning of game publishers. Activision Blizzard have an active deal on the Stadia platform and it would appear that once again, streaming platforms will be battling for content rights just as various video streaming services have done in the past.
Project xCloud is another game stream services being rolled out by Microsoft, allowing a selection of Xbox titles to be streamed to tablets and phones. The company has formed a partnership with Samsung and I would say that this is certainly an exciting direction. Microsoft have restructured their Xbox Live offerings, now shifting towards the Game Pass model which is subscription based access. I picked up multiple years of this as the value to move onto this model for continuous online play and access to an extensive library of AAA games. I am excited to see how mobile tech, networking and game streaming builds from here. OnLive was a project before its time. I am sure that we will see many similar platforms offer their own twist and it would appear that the battle for the best catalogue of games is just beginning.
https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/xbox-game-streaming/project-xcloud
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OnLive
https://www.nvidia.com/en-gb/geforce-now/
