GameSpot Article Spotlight - Cloud Streaming: The Top Companies Investing in Gaming's Future

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By Jordan Ramée on March 16, 2019

A Future In The Cloud

How we access video games is changing all the time. Arcades gave way to home consoles with cartridges, before technology evolved to host games on discs. In recent years, the popularity of digital purchases has grown, as Xbox One X and PS4 Pro offer 1TB hard drives and Switch presents an easy way to play through both indie and triple-A titles on the go. Now, it looks like the next step is cloud gaming.

Several game publishers and hardware makers have already adjusted their long-term strategies to explore the possibilities that such a service could present--with Sony notably being one of the first which has allowed the company to get ahead of the curve. Cloud gaming puts more titles in front of more players after all, as it removes platform restrictions. If a game is running in the cloud, it can be streamed to consoles, PCs, handhelds, or mobile devices. The only true restriction to cloud gaming is internet speed, as you need a strong and constant connection to run your games without lag or stuttering.

In the following gallery, we point out the most prominent companies that are making strides in cloud gaming. Some are further along in developing their respective services in comparison to others, but each seems convinced to explore the technology or, at the very least, adapt their current subscription platforms to incorporate cloud-based support.

https://www.gamespot.com/gallery/cloud-streaming-the-top-companies-investing-in-gam/2900-2647/

I just wanted to highlight this article that GameSpot put out yesterday and I think it's a great piece and starting part for discussion on different game streaming options. I did submit a correction to them about the actual launch date of PS3-PSP streaming being 2006 but they did a great job of research and explaining things like SharePlay. I was also surprised about Nintendo's testing but very interested to find out some specific of this. I'm a huge proponent of cloud gaming being part of gaming's future, so it's great to see a mainstream outlet break it down like this.

Yum. Hardware agnostic gaming.

Interesting article I don't know if I agree though.... it's undoubtedly at the forefront of may many companhys interests at the moment for one reason or another.

@raining51:

Cloud gaming has a place but cannot be the primary means until maybe 20 years in the future. Knowing what and how to use it business wise is what will set this apart. It’s like video streaming, music streaming, etc. Once the ball got rolling, the technology was by and large relatively consistent between competition. The only difference was the business models which is what really set companies like Netflix and Hulu and Pandora apart.