Cloud Gaming
The technology giant Google and Microsoft have dived into the game stream service by unveiling their platform Google Stadia and Microsoft Project XCloud that will enable users to stream triple-A games. Both companies have seen the success of Netflix with its Television and Film streaming service and are hedging on the future where discs, downloads or even consoles will no longer be required. The ease of streaming games from anywhere provides an exciting new market within the gaming industry where the use of physical discs has existed for many years.
Cloud Gaming is not a new idea, over the past decade companies have attempted to bring life to this new sector, however they have been met with technological and economic constraints due to the sheer demand of streaming games efficiently. Cloud Gaming involves streaming games from a remote server miles away. Every time the gamer presses a button, the input will be sent to the remote server that tells the game what you have done and then sends a video frame that shows you the result. All this is done in milliseconds. However, a successful game streaming service ultimately relies on strong cloud and internet infrastructure.
Google Stadia
Due to launch in November 2019, Stadia will allow you to stream games on your laptop or PC from the Chrome browser, Pixel 3 and 3a phones and a Chromecast Ultra dongle. You will have to pay a subscription fee and then you can buy Stadia games on top of the subscription fee. However, from the initial release, only a few games will be available. The availability of new triple-A games will prove vital to the success of the platform as customers will not want to wait for an extra couple of days after PC and console release for the game to be made available on Stadia.
Microsoft XCloud
Microsoft has unveiled much information regarding their streaming service, however they are using the Xbox One S as the building blocks of their streaming service. Microsoft will allow users to stream games to phones in October 2019 in their first public trial to test their streaming infrastructure.
Things to consider
You will need an amazing internet connection to ensure no latency problems or how long remote servers take to respond to your commands. This issue will become even bigger when it comes to online gaming as essentially your game will be connected to the gaming network but also you will be to have a good internet connection for your commands to be recognised in real time. Even today gamers sometimes suffer from latency when playing online and that’s directly connected to the console. Another consideration is that cloud gaming uses a lot of data.
720p at 60 fps will require 10 Mbps
1080p HDR Video at 60 fps will require 20 Mbps
4K HDR video at 60 fps will require 35 Mbps
The speed requirement will also depend on how far the server you are connected to is, the further the data centre, the more distance that the input and streaming connection will have to travel to.
Cloud Gaming has a lot of potentials but will require improvements in the cloud service and internet infrastructure to provide a streamlined service that will provide no latency streaming.