One of the most attractive elements of the cloud gaming revolution is how it will significantly broaden access to gaming. This is good for gamers—and

We previously discussed the rise of cloud gaming and how it opens new, exciting avenues for the gaming industry. There are many interesting aspects to how gaming-as-a-service could change how games are made and distributed, but one particular element I’d love to focus on is how it will broaden access to games.

The video games market is expected to grow to $200bn in value by 2023, and cloud gaming is expected to be a core driver of this growth. The technology offers a lot to gamers; for one, it removes the need to invest in costly hardware, instead allowing even the most casual of gamers to access the best ‘AAA’ titles in the industry with only a mobile data plan, a smartphone and 5G connectivity. (As we’ve explored before, the proliferation of 5G will play a big role in cloud gaming’s success.)

It will also allow for cross-platform functionality and remove platform-related ‘peer pressure’ that can compel gamers to buy one specific platform so they can play games with particular friends and communities.

In August, for example, GeForce announced it was rolling out cloud gaming for Chromebooks, a surprising and exciting move given that these notebooks are typically very low-cost and have been, up to this point, seen as limited use devices only suitable for an educational or corporate setting.

Cloud gaming will create a gaming experience with less friction, fewer barriers to entry and lower costs for players. This could pave the way for those in less wealthy nations to access games previously inaccessible due to restricted access to consoles. Some of these nations, such as India, already have a strong appetite for gaming.

Not to mention that, as we saw at the start of the pandemic, major consoles are not immune to supply chain issues, which in turn blocks players for extended periods from playing titles they want. With cloud gaming, they’ll be able to play with whatever screen device they have on hand.

Often when cloud gaming is discussed, the interests of gamers and the interests of developers are pitted against each other, as if one cannot be satisfied without hurting the other. Many developers have their concerns about porting old games to make them suitable for cloud gaming, which will not only be labor-intensive but could open up security issues.

In fact, according to the State of the Games Industry survey, compiled at the Game Developer’s conference in 2019, most developers (56%) reported that their next release would be for PC. A mere 8% reported that they were developing games for Google Stadia or Microsoft xCloud.

Neither of those cloud gaming platforms is without its problems, and perhaps this lack of developer buy-in is down to the individual platforms. Yet it does indicate a hesitance among the developer community.

I think viewing cloud gaming as a burden for gamers is entirely the wrong outlook; if anything, cloud gaming could be a pressure valve for the industry. It will allow developers to spend less time developing games for every single platform, consolidating all the work instead into one cross-platform project. This could allow gaming companies to allocate more resources towards marketing, localizing or otherwise upscaling games outside of development. Not to mention that cloud gaming will remove the hardware-related scaling limitations: for developers, the sky (and the cloud within it) will be the limit.

Of course, recommending the benefits of cloud gaming can sound disingenuous when well-known platforms, such as GeForce, end up stirring controversy due to bad communication with developers about which games would and would not be included on the platform.

This shouldn’t be viewed as a bellwether for cloud gaming as a whole, however. Cloud will still offer excellent revenue and market opportunities. Some have even argued, convincingly I think, that cloud gaming could help combat piracy issues in the industry, allowing developers greater opportunities to be fairly compensated for the excellent work they do.

More importantly, it will allow more people to access, and fall in love with, great games, whether they be major titles or indie productions. Having a broader reach is a net positive for the developer community, and it is important to keep an open mind.

In fact, why not take it one step further? If developers are concerned about having to relinquish control of their titles, why not independently offer their own cloud solutions? Google and Microsoft are certainly the giants in that field, but who is to say that a gaming company could not approach a smaller cloud vendor and offer their own personalized service for their customers?

The Big Tech monopolization of emerging technologies is something that is falsely assumed to be inevitable. You don’t have to rely on major brands to access new technological solutions, and if anything, being more hands-on with your cloud provision could be more beneficial and give you greater scope to provide affordable yet cutting edge options for your audience.

You’ll get the benefits of reaching a far wider pool of gamers without having to feel like you’re a small fish in the great sea of a huge platform brought to you by an even huger tech company.

Cloud gaming is going to drastically change gaming, and the best way to be prepared for those changes is to visualize where you fit into the grand scheme of the industry. What goals will you hope to achieve using the latest technological innovations? Be excited, but most importantly, be prepared.