Cloud Gaming - Past & Future

What is Cloud Gaming?

Cloud gaming is essentially the ability to play your favorite games on any platform of your choice. This is achieved through the strides made in cloud computing technology. Cloud gaming entails playing the game over remote servers. The gameplay is then ‘streamed’ to the player’s device.

The concept of cloud gaming is very similar to the video-on-demand service. The games are stored on servers, and ‘streamed’ to the player’s device when they are invoked.

As enticing as this premise is, there are several infrastructural exigencies that must be met for this to be actualized. The fundamental concerns usually involve the availability of high-speed internet along with establishing adequate specific data centers and server farms.

Pivotal Moments in History

1) The first demonstrated approach of cloud gaming technology was by a startup – G-cluster. They sought to provide PC games that ran on their servers through video-on-demand service providers. They were able to release this by 2003.?

2) Crytek commenced research on this model in 2005, but halted the same in 2007 due to the unavailability of adequate infrastructure.

3) In 2009, two projects in cloud gaming were announced – OnLive, Gaikai.?

OnLive was a subscription-based model which was able to onboard large publishers like 育碧 , 2K games, and THQ . Despite this, they didn’t have huge acceptance amongst the rest of the publisher fraternity. This model was never profitable leading to the company being shut down, and their assets being purchased by Sony.

For Gaikai, they aimed to only support game demos rather than entire games. This was supposed to assist with the advertisement processes of the publisher. This model was quite popular with publishers. Ultimately, they were acquired by Sony for over $340Mn.

4) 英伟达 announced their cloud gaming service – GeForce Now in 2012.?

5) 索尼 launched their cloud streaming platform – PS Now 2012.

6) In 2018, 谷歌 announced its project Stream (later Stadia), and 微软 announced their ‘Project XCloud Digital ’.

7) In 2019, the Stadia was formally launched.

8) 2020 marked the release of 亚马逊 ’s cloud gaming service – Luna, and Microsoft’s ‘Xbox Cloud Gaming’ project.

Current Size + Forecast

Growth Drivers

?? Cloud Gaming services burgeoning in high-growth regions like Southeast Asia and Latin America.

?? The collaboration of several cloud gaming platforms with TV manufacturers like Xbox collaborating with Samsung.

?? Increasing internet speeds. In a 2021 update, Ookla estimated that since 2017, the global average speed had risen by 31.9% each year for fixed broadband and 59.5% for mobile networks.

?? Greater smartphone penetration. According to a GSMA report, 2025 smartphone penetration will increase to 80%.

The Biggest Challenge Right Now – Bandwidth Capacity.

Note: With supply chain restrictions supposed to persist till 2023 at least, more companies might look to enter the market in some form.

Indian Position

Currently, there is a crippling problem with infrastructure in India.

To be able to partake in cloud gaming, high-speed internet, and great bandwidth is absolutely essential. At the moment, neither requirement has been convincingly met.

However, the seemingly imminent arrival of 5G has been heralded to be the catalyst the industry needs. Ideally speaking, India’s huge population with decent smartphone penetration presents a very tantalizing market.

Written By - Laksh Sharma