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[StereoVsn]

They need what ever tech Nvidia GeForce uses. That is easily the best streaming I’ve experienced. I wonder if it’s tech all companies can use eventually or if you have to pay Nvidia for. Either way I hope all games will be streamed like it in the future.

I am sure Jensen will give them the tech if MS buys a few dozen more truckloads of Nvidia cards for Azure.

 

[Daneel Elijah]

When, not if.

No thank you

Basically all the thread should be about. The tech is not there yet. And this is not in our interest to have even less control of our games. If we are talking future, I want/ hope that there is a way to resell our games digitally like we can for disk right now. This would change the market forever.

Consoles dont since they barely make any profit, their platforms (stores) do. Consoles serve purely as a vehicle to deliver the games to you, they are in the way and hold people from buying the software that they actually profit from.

True. But this is not as clear cut in the sense that PC already exist. And consoles is still very relevant and the clear choice for a number of consumers. If/ when tech get good enough that having console generation stop making sense we will see games going PC as the consoles, and the work that goes into making a new generation, become useless. But this is for far in the future. Stadia proves that you can play in the cloud. But Nintendo proves that the games are the most important. And they can stay relevant AND very profitable with games that are far behind the tech we have in PS5 and Xbox. I can see Sony continue to make consoles until they found that they can make their AAA in common PCs, or that the Cloud become a demand from consumers worldwide. Microsoft may want this to happen earlier. But they are not wanting that for us, but for them. And after the Xbox one fiasco we know that they will fuck up the market at the first occasion if they can. So why be for something that has no interest outside of a small increase in comfort? Great games can already be made in weak PCs when you see Horizon and GOW Ragnarok. So we can already have them in PCs instead. Wanting to go to cloud, unless games would gain something from it, like the Google rumors of extended interactivity, is not logical to me. Not until the tech is even better. And the internet providers can follow with a good service.

 

[Mr Reasonable]

All you need is some positive word of mouth and for people to realize that the barrier of entry is only a $15 subscription and you can play on devices you already own RIGHT NOW. I think we could see a major shift quickly.

A friend told me he can play Fortnite on his TV, no subscription, just an epic account. His TV isn't a premium model and so I assume it's possible for any TV to do it once whatever app it is that manages the streaming is available everywhere.

What I don't really understand (assuming it works well and he says it performs as well as the console versions) is why this isn't bigger news. One of the biggest games in the world, no fees to pay, no hardware needed (bar a controller). Realistically, why isn't this expected to dominate the mass market?

I agree that momentum will probably gather quickly and people will move over to cloud systems.

Not for people here on the forums, but kids, people who only buy a couple of games a year - essentially the mass market - for them I think that it'll likely take off quickly once a little momentum builds.

 

[In Cold Blood]

Microsoft will have both a future Xbox next gen console, and they will have a streaming only box, which they are working on right now.

 

[8BiTw0LF]

I like to own my games.

But have fun.

 

[T4keD0wN]

Basically all the thread should be about. The tech is not there yet. And this is not in our interest to have even less control of our games. If we are talking future, I want/ hope that there is a way to resell our games digitally like we can for disk right now. This would change the market forever.

True. But this is not as clear cut in the sense that PC already exist. And consoles is still very relevant and the clear choice for a number of consumers. If/ when tech get good enough that having console generation stop making sense we will see games going PC as the consoles, and the work that goes into making a new generation, become useless. But this is for far in the future. Stadia proves that you can play in the cloud. But Nintendo proves that the games are the most important. And they can stay relevant AND very profitable with games that are far behind the tech we have in PS5 and Xbox. I can see Sony continue to make consoles until they found that they can make their AAA in common PCs, or that the Cloud become a demand from consumers worldwide. Microsoft may want this to happen earlier. But they are not wanting that for us, but for them. And after the Xbox one fiasco we know that they will fuck up the market at the first occasion if they can. So why be for something that has no interest outside of a small increase in comfort? Great games can already be made in weak PCs when you see Horizon and GOW Ragnarok. So we can already have them in PCs instead. Wanting to go to cloud, unless games would gain something from it, like the Google rumors of extended interactivity, is not logical to me. Not until the tech is even better. And the internet providers can follow with a good service.

Even if the tech is better and games will be able to benefit from it, i dont want it. Cloud gaming will hurt game prevervation and "ownership", although outside of GOG and physical we dont really own games. Itll mainly just benefit the companies and give them more control over us. We should all reject it as the main way to play. I am not scared of Geforce NOW because of how it currently works, but i am pretty scared of Xbox's and Playstation's cloud gaming services and what could happen if they grow so much they overtake console gaming.


Cloud gaming has some benefits for us, but youre right its mostly for them, which is why i am sure they want it, they would be taking the little amount control we still have left.
If it supplements normal (console,pc) gaming, it will be fine. But if it replaces it which is what these companies want, itll only give those companies more power and control than they have already at the expense of us, the consumers.

 

[Withnail]

The hardcore will always want local hardware and that won’t go away, just like people still buy vinyl records.

But something equivalent to Stadia tech with a good content library, reasonable pricing model and good marketing would be fine for a large number of people. It’s definitely coming.

 

[Doctor Hades]

There are three major issues with cloud gaming:

1. Increased latency resulting in less responsive controls; and

2. Macroblocking and other visual artifacts from streaming heavily compressed content, which is a requirement otherwise it would be impossible to stream 4K content at 60 or 120 fps. While many might be fine with downgraded image quality when sat 10-12 feet away from their TVs, I personally find it annoying and have experience of it all the time on movie streaming services such as Netflex, Amazon Video, Disney+ and Paramount+ on my 55" OLED TV. This issue is even worse when sat inches away from a 27" PC monitor which is how I play my PC games. This is despite having a reliable 920 Mbps down and 180 Mbps up direct-in-the-home fibre connection; and

3. You are at the mercy of your internet connection which even on the highest speeds can suddenly drop and cause low quality images for a time even on the most reliable of connections. Wired can help but even that isn't guaranteed either as I have a wired connection on my PC and still have to endure some buffering and a drop in resolution while watching streamed content from time to time.

Until all of those issues are resolved and I can enjoy an experience on par with my current local console and PC games then I will *never* subscribe to a cloud gaming service. I've tried several over the years and they have all been sub-par and only useful for trying out a game before buying it on Steam or whatever.

The only positive I can say about cloud gaming is that it could at least offer some reprieve for the current state of extremely poorly optimised games on PC which are suffering from bad CPU optimisation and shader compilation/traversal stuttering as one would imagine that those issues would not exist on a streamed service. Certainly, shader compilation stutter shouldn't be an issue, just as they aren't on consoles with fixed hardware, and I would hope that games would be coded to hit specific framerate targets such as 30, 60 or even 120 fps without hitching or stuttering.

 

[skyfall]

Physical isnt going anywhere. Why not have the ability to stream all of your owned games from the cloud too? That's what I want

 

[Three]

I think that MS are finally going to push a cloud OS ecosystem and unify xbox and PC.

jk/2

 

[FoxMcChief]

I hope not. A digital only console is already bad enough, we dont need a streaming only future too.

It’s an option, not a replacement.

 

[cireza]

When you have no games, you might as well not have any hardware either.

 

[deriks]

When, not if.

I can see this becoming the standard, and downloading as kind of a second choice in a not so long future. Like music and video already are. But yeah, it's a matter of "when", not "if"

 

[Matt_Fox]

I've watched gaming evolve through dozens of technological iterations since the 70s and friction-free cloud gaming is assuredly the next form it will take going into the 2030s and beyond.

You can ditch those clunky consoles, the baking hot graphics cards, the coolers, the fans, the wires. All you'll need is a game pad and an app on your screen.

Microsoft probably need it the most, but Sony are in great shape to do this too. Let's not forget they are a major TV manufacturer - it's not hard to imagine those Sony televisions coming with a free years subscription to Sony CloudStation!

 

[YeulEmeralda]

I don't see how this takes off. Like what is the quantum leap that makes people buy a $60 controller but not want to buy a console and not want to buy games. You are already trying to get off next gen consoles at 199 or whatever and giving them away with promotions.

I agree. The casuals that are supposed to be the market for this are already gaming on their phones.

I really don't believe that there are millions of people who want to play games like Horizon or Cyberpunk but not invest in a console.

 

[Crayon]

I agree. The casuals that are supposed to be the market for this are already gaming on their phones.

I really don't believe that there are millions of people who want to play games like Horizon or Cyberpunk but not invest in a console.

I think a whole lot of metrics and predictions have been skewed over the last decade thanks to lumping mobile gamers with traditional ones. It's not the same. Not even in the same ballpark. Might as well include tabletop gamers.

I was pretty bullsih on streaming like 5 years ago, because I thought people would play assasins creed on their phone and want to step up to a controller and then a couch. But these people already know what videogames are and they don't want one. They essential difference is the kind of attention a person wants to put into their game. Mobile users play a game becasue they are bored waiting in line or on the bus. Mobile games are mostly just little distractions where normal games are trying to suck you in completely.

 

[KXVXII9X]

Just an FYI, not everyone has access to high speed internet, even in first world countries like the US, where I reside in.

If this is the direction Xbox will take gaming to, I would wish them nothing but the worst.

 

[DeepEnigma]

In theory that saying does have some philosophical weight... a beast of burden if you will.

In the nefarious human power + control practices that it's always been applied to throughout history... nothing but dystopian and oppressive.