Cloud Gaming: The Future of Gaming?

• 

  Diverse on 01/02/2021 - 03:54

  +8

  It's an interesting topic to say the least.

  Few thoughts:

  • Companies will love it for reasons such as: monthly subscriptions, no returns/piracy, second hand market etc. $$$

  • It's convenient but only if you have very good internet connection

  • Lose the satisfaction of owning/building something

  • DRMs…

  I personally don't like the route of cloud gaming, so far Stadia is not doing so well.

  • 

    capslock janitor on 01/02/2021 - 09:45

    options

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  CEO Rachel Jake on 01/02/2021 - 08:08

  It's funny, for the past ten years we've been told cloud gaming is the future and yet here we still live in the present. Although it does feel like we're a lot closer than we were back then. I'd say it's similar to the Netflix situation, where for most people gaming on the cloud is the way to go but if you look on the front page today, there are 4K blu-rays being snapped up by OzBargainers. Not only can Netflix at 4K not compare quality wise with a nice 4K bluray, it's also difficult for people to give up the actual ownership of their media, although Steam is a very grey area in that regard.

  • 

    DomMMK on 03/02/2021 - 02:49

    It's funny, for the past ten years we've been told cloud gaming is the future and yet here we still live in the present

    Up unti 2 years ago Cloud Gaming was just an idea. Now every major cloud provider is moving into the space. The tech has actually improved significantly in the last few years. Stadia is capable of streaming video games with sub 100ms input latency, matching any modern console.

    Biggest difference though is nbn have finally finished their (profanity) rollout. I was on 4mbps until January last year.

    . Not only can Netflix at 4K not compare quality wise with a nice 4K bluray

    Cost is a major difference. The barrier to entry to watch 4k video is marginal compared to what is neccessary to play modern games at 4k.

    • 

      CEO Rachel Jake on 03/02/2021 - 07:50

      Up until 2 years ago Cloud Gaming was just an idea.

      Man, why won't people put respect on poor old OnLive. It did it's best with its' 2010 technology :( . PSNow first dropped back in 2014 which feels like 2 years ago but is really 7 years and nVidia's Geforce Now went into beta in 2013. Plus there where the local streaming technologies like Steam's remote play and nVidia's game stream. Tech has definitely improved and playing on modern Stadia, Geforce Now or PS Now is a far superior experience to OnLive back way back when but I feel as though it won't hit it's stride until 5G really takes off and you can stream off data anywhere. Though I wonder how many people on the NBN have suitable networking to play Stadia, it's all well and good to have a fast internet speed but if you're playing through a wireless n laptop on the other side of the house to your router, it's gonna be a bad time.

      The barrier to entry to watch 4k video is marginal

      The barrier to watch 4K content is still about $300 for a dedicated player or Xbox One S/X which while obviously not enough to build a high end gaming PC is still a considerable amount of money. But the reason I brought it up was that watching a 4K HDR blu ray is superior to watching the same 4K HDR content on Netflix given the reduced bitrate that content gets streamed with.

      I'm certainly not a downer on cloud streaming or anything since it is really cool and has come a long way, but I think it will co-exist with regular gaming systems like 4K blu rays exist with Netflix. But who knows what the next few years hold lol.

• 

  Kangal on 01/02/2021 - 08:56

  +5

  If we had proper NBN-rollout, if the connection fees were actually competitive, if the streaming service (Sony, MS, Google, etc etc) were compelling, if developers made games ui adaptable to different screens. Yes, in that situation it wouldn't become the "future of gaming" but it would become mainstream.

  However, our internet is expensive, slow, streaming services are meh, and developers struggle with developing optimised games. So no.

  The best case for Cloud Gaming, is to have a shared Save State and to be able to continue from any location: home, hotel, on-the-go, etc. It's kind of like having a Home Console (eg WiiU) that you can take anywhere (ie nSwitch). So the demand for portability is there (just check out GPD XD, Win, Win2, Win3).

  • 

    DomMMK on 03/02/2021 - 03:02

    If we had proper NBN-rollout, if the connection fees were actually competitive

    Stadia only requires a 35mbps connection to stream 4k60fps. Majority of Australia can easily handle that.

    • 

      Kangal on 03/02/2021 - 12:46

      It's not just about bandwidth but latency too.
      As an example, think of a fast-paced game like Street Fighter, let's say on PC. You can run it at 145fps with Very High graphics so the bandwidth is there but if your gamepad has horrible latency (130ms) then you're not going to have a good time. Conversely if you use a premium gamepad with low latency (30ms) however it runs on a Potato PC at only 35fps, you're still not going to have a good time. Going midway on both (145+35/2= 90fps)(30+130/2= 80ms) will yield a FAR better competitive experience overall than either.

      Also to add, Australia is quiet population-dense nation when you think about the capital cities, which supports 85% (?) of our population. So financial incentive is certainly there. You just need the infrastructure, servers, dedicated hardware, and software solution to do a good job of it. If the evolution of 5G this may become cheaper and more prominent in the future.

• 

  Bid Sniper on 01/02/2021 - 10:02

  +2

  Not for me, we're heading toward a future you own nothing but pay for everything through subscriptions even if you dont play.

  I have Steam and happy with it,if I want to play an old game or emulator, or mod I can. I have a RTX3070 and play all games at 4K, hard to go back to 1080. Every mid teir video card from now will be 4K. NBN, is a crap here on purpose.

  • 

    DomMMK on 03/02/2021 - 02:52

    Owning games and cloud gaming aren't mutually exclusive. GeForce Now works on that exact same premise. They only provide the computing, and you have to own and install the games on their machines yourself.

• 

  ihavok on 01/02/2021 - 10:53

  You'll still need a proper 4K monitor / TV to play 4K or QHD or etc. So you still need to budget for that unless you're keeping your current gear.

  I had access to NVIDIA's option which used to be called NVIDIA GRID (now called GeForce Now, I think?) while on an FTTP 100 NBN connection. The lag was unbearable for me even for a single player campaign, I probably spent under 30 minutes playing the first time and never tried again - the servers were overseas though. From the sound of your xCloud beta experience, they must have finally added Australian servers. Did you manage to get any stats with regards to refresh rate, video quality, latency, input lag, etc?

  It would be appealing if you're someone who goes through a lot of titles. But if you were someone who tends to stick with a particular title for a while (e.g. multiplayer), maybe not as appealing?

  • 

    DomMMK on 03/02/2021 - 03:15

    +1

    Latency was ok. Supposedly they run on Azure, but I suspect the beta is running from Singapore. Mostly because I would run into frequenty network warnings and my stream would go blocking for 20-30seconds every 10-15minutes.

    They are also running off XboxS hardware too. That means no SSD's. Some games take 2-3mins to start and loading screens are endless.

• 

  chcse on 01/02/2021 - 11:09

  +1

  I tried the xCloud beta, and the lag was noticeable (playable but not ideal), even worse for games like fighting and racing which was unplayable to me (and I don't have a high bar to reach). While it is the future, it still feels ages away before it can completely replace local, and that's for countries where internet is going to be decent.

• 

  Headless on 01/02/2021 - 12:01

  Doable for alot of countries for their excellent internet speed, but sadly in Australia we are too slow

  • 

    DomMMK on 03/02/2021 - 02:08

    I disagree. I played Code Vein over the last week and it has been sturdy on 50mbps nbn. xCloud asks for 35mbps for 4K streaming, which is well below the median speed here in Australia.

• 

  Guybrush57 on 02/02/2021 - 22:06

  +1

  This post aged like milk given Google have announced they are killing off Stadia.

  • 

    DomMMK on 03/02/2021 - 02:06

    They aren't killing off Stadia, they are closing down their game studios. Personally, I think its a sensibile move. Amazon has failed twice to try make their own game. There is only one cloud gaming provider even bothering to make first party games and thats Microsoft whom have the luxory of Xbox.

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  DASHCAM NOW DUDE on 06/02/2021 - 00:43

  It's okay now since it's only in beta with only a few people on it.

  Imagine launch day for a hyped game. Most developer's cant even get internet-connected single player games to run properly on launch day. Eg.Hitman 3, Diablo 3.

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  Ryugen on 19/02/2021 - 16:06

  I'm actually quite pumped for GeForce Now partnering with Pentanet to deliver Perth and Sydney servers. Fingers crossed for a good deployment, the potential ability to take my steam library anywhere with me and play them with high end fidelity from a Chromebook is chef's kiss