Video Game Cloud

Video Game Cloud

Video Game Cloud

For the last few years, the video game sector has experienced an incredible boost (being even more profitable than cinema and sport together), therefore all IT companies want to jump in and use the cloud as a platform for marketing their games

Alberto Castellanos

29/09/2022

videjuegos

“Cloud”, that word we grant you you will find present in all hobbies you have always enjoyed and you didn't even realize it. You listen to music on Spotify without CDs, you watch TV shows and movies through Netflix without the need to keep a DVD collection or you work from your computer connected to a much more powerful machine, but now you can even play video games without any gaming console or even the video game in your hands, and that's all thanks to CLOUD GAMING!

Mind_blown

The cloud has changed our lives and the video game sector is catching up too to how things are evolving. In the last few years, the video game sector has experienced a huge boost (becoming even more profitable than cinema and sports together), therefore all companies wish to join in and use the Cloud as platform for their video games.

What is Cloud gaming?

What_is_this

Cloud gaming is a service for video game streaming that plays on a remote server with the hardware necessary to that end. In order to use this service, you just need a computer or a gaming console that supports it and connection to the Internet.

How does it work?

Tell_me_how

The main elements for cloud gaming to work are:

  • A device: Where to see the image and hear the sounds coming from the network and send the actions taken by the player throught the network.

  • The network: Communication element between the terminal and the server. It is in charge of sending actions and receiving the encrypted image from the server.

  • A server: Where the game is executed and its image is rendered interpreting at the same time the player's actions that are sent through the network returning the codified image.
Its_just_that_simple

How to use this service?

Each of the companies that have led the gaming console war for the last few years and PCs offer this service but not in the same way:

  • Xbox Cloud Gaming: Microsoft has taken its chances on technology within its marketing strategy with Xbox Series S|X and PC and has included it among their best assets, the Gamepass. This service goes further than a simple console and can be used with any browser, adapting in some cases the controls to accessibility if used from your cell phone or tablet.

  • Playstation Plus Premium: Recently Sony Playstation, the Japanese company has restructured their service offer for online gaming and the Cloud and have included Cloud streaming within their premium subscription. As a funny fact, Playstation has made the most out of this service to simulate their old PS3 games since it is not possible in their latest console PS5.

  • Switch Cloud Versions: The big N, Nintendo, hosts this service for those players who cannot afford their latest Nintendo Switch consoles. There is just a few cases where they decide to use this technology and it seems like it is not a future approach for the company but they still wanted to not miss the chance of using the Cloud.
  • Google Stadia: They went all for a remote and this service as subscription mode, and it seems like it did not go bad at all, particularly with releases such as Cyberpunk. Still their study for creating exclusive games for the streaming platform (Stadia Games and Entertainment) shut down, we hope the same Stadia doesn't have a similar outcome and joins Google's service cemetery.

  • GeForceNow: The Nvidia service has a specific feaure compared to others, and it is that it offers a free section of one hour a day (with waiting queues of course). It is one of the most efficient ones to use it with your PC or with your Shield. You may even link your Steam or Epic Games videogames to play them on the Cloud.

  • Others: It is also worth highlighting that there are other less-known services but equally efficient such as Shadow for PC or Nware made in Spain, but there are many others.
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Clouds are coming!

Little by little there are increasingly more companies that take their chances on the Cloud, these are some of the upcoming Cloud services we'll see out very soon:

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  • Amazon Luna: Geoff Bezos (the richest man on Earth and owner of Amazon) also wants to join the party and will shortly launch his Cloud service, maybe supported by its popular video game streaming platform Twitch?

  • Logitech G Cloud: Logitech has been one of the first companies to recently announce a console based on Android that takes an approach towards the streaming service right off the bat, offering streaming services like Xbox Cloud Gaming or GeForceNow.

  • Ubisoft Scalar: At Ubisoft, they have wanted to take it a step further and will invest in a service on the Cloud to develop games on a big scale. We still know very little abouth this technology but we're sure to receive more information shortly about it.
  • Facebook Gaming: Its cloud focuses for now solely on Andorid mobile games and offering them for free. We still don't know whether they will take it up a notch and will venture further and whether their "Metaverse" could have anything to do with it.

  • Apple: Another giant to take into account and that after joining subscriptions with game catalogues such as Apple Arcadia might choose to take that path and create their very own Cloud gaming.

  • Samsung Gaming Hub: A platform that unifies several Cloud services for Samsung TVs. It's not available in all countries and it is not a Cloud gaming system per se, more like it unifies those services into a single application.

Pros and cons

PROS

opportunities
  • You don't need cutting edge hardware to enjoy games that require very high technical standards.

  • Game and update installing is over!

  • Their future seems promising and even more so with the upcoming 5G.

CONS

This_is_not_good
  • You must have good connection to the Internet. The biggest weak spot for Cloud gaming, to have an acceptable experience, not experiencing any lags or poor resolution or an exagerated input lag you must have an acceptable Internet connection. That also means a drawback at online gaming level not to mention on competition levels in e-Sports.

  • Waiting time if all servers are occupied.

  • Image quality loss for compressing the video to be streamed.

  • You don't own the games, they are rather "rented" in each Cloud service.

What is the future of video games?

impossible_to_see_the_future

Cloud servers are not perfect nor was the Internet from 15-20 years ago, when it took lots of patience to connect to the Internet and then we would wait for minutes sitting just for a simple image to load.

5G and its subsequent evolutions (people are already talking about 6G) can make this service change, enhance its value and make it known, since still few people use it compared to those who do not.

On the other hand Cloud gaming may "help" both consoles and physical-format video games to start dissappearing little by little (currently digital sales already beat those of physical format) and for consoles and video games to become like music CDs or DVDs/Blu-Ray are nowadays, pure collecting by those who are real fans of the hobby.

We have the immediacy of playing our favorite video game with just a "click" with the best features, wherever we want it and whenever, not worrying about anything else. In fact, isn't that what we want?... If you ask me, maybe I'm overcome by nostalgia and I see a future where we won't have that many of the special moments that physical format gave us and I don't think I will ever experience them again: blowing on a N64 cartouche that came back to life just like magic, or having that buddy that lent you a game but you never saw your buddy again (or losing a game YOU lent and never recovered), reading and rereading those carefully designed manuals that came in game boxes, video game stores... I suppose that keeping everything in the Cloud is the natural evolution of technology and that video games will not escape that fate, I just wish we won't loose everything that made the industry grow and that we will be able to still enjoy it.

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