Will cloud gaming be the future of the video game industry?
Kieran Rice
20170395
Word count: 1927
Introduction
When you imagine playing a triple-A game what are you playing? Most likely a powerful gaming PC or console. Well, what if I told you that you could be playing that game on any device, a laptop, tablet, smart TV, or even a mobile phone? This is what cloud gaming promises, a world where anyone with a smartphone can play the latest games without even having to download them. In recent years this dream has been brought to reality, and so we ask this question: Will cloud gaming be the future of the video game industry?
Before we discuss the pros and cons of cloud gaming, lets discuss what it actually is and how you can try it for yourself.
What is cloud gaming?
Unlike traditional gaming where the game you play is entirely stored on the system you’re playing on; cloud gaming instead streams your game from a server. This means that the visuals and sound of the game you’re playing is being sent over the internet from the server and your inputs are being sent back. In their review of Google’s Stadia, Warren and Hollister described cloud gaming as “like having a game console in the cloud that you can access from any device. Think of it like how Netflix is a DVD player in the cloud — Stadia works in a similar way, but for games.” (2019) There are several companies that offer this service including Google, PlayStation, Xbox, Amazon, and GeForce. All these companies offer similar products but have some differences, most notably the games available. Google’s “Stadia” has no upfront cost meaning you can set up an account for free “most big games will cost you $40 to $60 each, and there’s a $10-per-month subscription plan that gets you additional games and extra perks” (Andronico, 2021) PlayStation’s “PlayStation Now” service for example offers access to a library of PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation 4 games for a monthly fee. Xbox Cloud Gaming is free for all Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers and allows users to access a large selection of game Pass games from multiple devices without having to download them. Amazon’s “Amazon Luna” service features over 100 games available to be played on many devices without downloading for a monthly fee, they have also partnered with Ubisoft to create Ubisoft+ a service where users can pay extra to stream Ubisoft games the day they release. GeForce Now is the most unique game streaming service available, this is because instead of charging for individual games or a monthly fee GeForce Now streams games you already own from gaming marketplaces such as Steam and Epic Games.
But where did cloud gaming start and how did we get to where we are today?
The history of cloud gaming
While cloud gaming seems futuristic it has been around in some form since the turn of the millennium. At E3 2001 Finnish start-up G-Cluster showed off the very first demonstration of cloud gaming technology, 9 years later in 2010 OnLive launched as the world’s first cloud gaming service. OnLive subscribers could buy full games and stream them to their devices, however performance issues and the high price of the subscription eventually led to all OnLive employees being laid off and the company being bought out. Earlier however in 2011 OnLive’s main competitor Gaikai launched, it focussed on game demos and partnered with many big companies including EA, Capcom, and Ubisoft. Later both services would go on to be bought by Sony and integrated into their new PlayStation Now service launching in 2014. Many found the service disappointing at launch “”meh” was definitely how I felt when Sony’s PlayStation Now cloud gaming service debuted. When an open beta launched in late 2014, it was ridiculed as the antiquated Blockbuster of video games: a service where you’d have to rent each PS3 title — and only PS3 titles — for more than you’d pay to buy a used disc at GameStop. It felt like an expensive way to cover for the fact that the PS4 wasn’t backwards compatible with PS3 games.” (Hollister, 2019) However in more recent years Sony has removed the rental system opting instead for a subscription fee, they also expanded the service to include PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 4 Games. In 2017 Nvidia released their Nvidia Now service, then in 2018 both Google and Microsoft announced their cloud gaming services releasing in 2019 and 2020 respectively.
Now we know what cloud gaming is and how it’s evolved over the years let’s discuss the reasons why cloud gaming could be the future of the video game industry.
Why cloud gaming is the future – Convenience
One of the main arguments in favour of cloud gaming is the convenience of it. Instead of having to use a separate console for games it’s a lot easier to use devices you already own such as your mobile phone, tablet, or personal computer. Many cloud gaming services, such as Google’s Stadia, also allow games to be played across multiple devices “If you’re playing on your Chromecast Ultra and head to a friend’s house, you can pick up exactly where you left off on your phone or laptop. The game is being run on Google’s servers, so the end-location of the stream doesn’t matter.” (Imel, 2020) The lack of downloads also contributes to the convenience of cloud gaming as less time is wasted waiting for games to download and more time can be spent playing the games themselves, “loading up my Xbox Gamertag was just a matter of signing in, and I instantly accessed Game Pass games. No downloads, just a few seconds of waiting as my information was synced with the cloud.” (Cuevas, 2021)
To sum up, people naturally want their lives to be more convenient and as cloud gaming becomes more convenient there is a high chance it will become the main way we experience games.
Why cloud gaming is the future – Better hardware
With the introduction of better hardware, the average gamer almost definitely already owns a device capable of running a game through the cloud. For example, as mobile phones have improved they are now capable of running triple A games through services such as Stadia and Xbox Cloud Gaming. Furthermore, “now internet speeds are faster and more accessible to larger groups of people and hardware is good enough to deliver high-fidelity content. It’s really like the perfect storm of features building up to cloud gaming finally getting the primetime treatment it deserves.” (Shadow, 2019)
As you can see hardware is growing more powerful by the day, and as a result of this cloud gaming will become more readily available to more people making it more appealing to play games with.
Why cloud gaming is the future – Environment
It may shock you to learn that physical games (games sold in physical stores) are a big problem for the environment, one reason for this is e-waste such as game disks, cartridges, and boxes. These fill up landfills and pollute our oceans making it harder for nature to survive. Likewise, “the materials used to produce physical game copies cause 23 times more carbon dioxide emissions than games sold in digital forms.” (Kucher, 2020) Yet the environmental problems can’t be sold by having all games be sold digitally, as Microsoft says in a statement to Polygon “cloud gaming servers “are more power efficient than a standard home console,” and that having multiple users share servers “creates significant energy reduction and lowers the per-customer carbon footprint.”” (Carpenter, 2020)
This means that according to Microsoft cloud gaming is more environmentally friendly then other forms of game distribution.
Why cloud gaming is not the future – Environment
On the other hand, there are some that disagree with this and say that cloud gaming’s environmental impact would actually be negative. According to the BBC “One recent study from Lancaster University estimated that if gamers moved to streaming over the next decade, carbon emissions could rise by 30%.” (Molloy, 2020) This could be devastating for the environment as carbon can cause global warming. This could be resolved through the use of renewable energy however current production would not be able to facilitate this.
In light of these facts, you can argue that the environmental impact of cloud gaming outweighs its positives, and thus shouldn’t be the future of gaming.
Why cloud gaming is not the future – Ownership
According to Google “Once you purchase a game, you own the right to play it.” This means that you do not own the game, you own the right to play the game. The same is true for most online store fronts, ““According to the agreement that you agree to every single time you buy a game on Steam, “the Content and Services are licensed, not sold. Your license confers no title or ownership in the Content and Services.” You’re not buying the games, you’re buying the license to use them. ” (Thomas, 2019) As a result of this if Stadia shuts down then all the games you’ve bought for it will be lost. While this is true for most digital storefronts it’s unlikely that they will shut down anytime soon as they have been around for decades, cloud gaming is still relatively new so buying games for it is still considered quite risky.
In a nutshell this means that any games you buy through cloud gaming are not actually yours and can be taken away from you at any time.
Why cloud gaming is not the future – Performance
Despite all the technical innovations over the past 10 years you cannot escape the fact that cloud gaming is worse than traditional gaming from a technical standpoint. As Jones states “Cloud gaming suffers notoriously from input lag. There is no getting around it. The very nature of cloud gaming requires that your input from your controller, which has input lag of its own, go through the vast network of the internet, tell a server playing your game what to do which could be hundreds of miles away, and then send that visual information back to your TV” (2020) The amount of input lag depends heavily on your internet connection however no matter how good your internet it there will always be lag. This lag can make some games unbearable to play, particularly those that require split second reactions and quick inputs.
In other words, some games simply cannot be played with cloud gaming and the ones that can run much smoother through traditional methods.
Conclusion:
In conclusion the reasons why people say cloud gaming is the future are the convenience of playing games through the cloud, the ever-improving hardware making it easier, and the environmental benefits of cloud gaming. However, people on the other side of the discussion argue that the environment would actually be worsened by cloud gaming, it is risky as you don’t own the games you play, and the performance is simply not good enough. In my opinion cloud gaming will likely play a large role in the future of the games industry, I say this because as technology gets better and better, cloud gaming becomes more appealing to more people. This will create a feedback loop where more people will use cloud gaming services leading to companies making them better and attracting more people to them until eventually it becomes the predominant gaming platform.
However, this is just one theory, no one can know with certainty what the future holds for cloud gaming, yet I think we can all agree that we are witnessing the beginning of a revolution.
Reference list:
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Andronico M. (2021) CNN underscored [Online] Available at: https://us.cnn.com/2021/08/17/cnn-underscored/google-stadia-review/index.html [Accessed 11/11/21]
Hollister S. (2019) The verge [Online] Available at: https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/5/20993828/sony-playstation-now-cloud-gaming-gaikai-onlive-google-stadia-25th-anniversary [Accessed 13/11/21]
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Kucher D. (2020) Somag news [Online] Available at: https://www.somagnews.com/digital-vs-physical-game-replicas-harmful-environment/ [Accessed 11/11/21]
Carpenter N. (2020) Polygon [Online] Available at: https://www.polygon.com/features/2020/10/14/21449158/cloud-gaming-ps-now-geforce-project-xcloud-environmental-impact [Accessed: 11/11/21]
Molloy D. (2020) BBC [Online] Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-53838645 [Accessed 13/11/21]
Google (2020) [Online] Available at: https://support.google.com/stadia/answer/9338946?hl=en-GB [Accessed 11/11/21]
Thomas B. (2019) Tech radar [Online] Available at: https://www.techradar.com/uk/news/pc-game-ownership-in-the-digital-age-what-do-you-do-in-a-post-ownership-age [Accessed 11/11/21]
Jones C. (2020) Keen gamer [Online] Available at: https://www.keengamer.com/articles/features/opinion-pieces/cloud-gaming-cannot-be-allowed-to-replace-local-gaming/ [Accessed 11/11/21]
Next Gen Kieran 