We’ve heard for the last few years that cloud gaming will be the next big thing in the entertainment industry, but is this still true? By analyzing the latest moves made by Google and Microsoft, we can understand what the future holds.
The Story of Cloud Gaming So Far
Cloud gaming sounds like a fantastic idea, as the gamers using it don’t need to buy expensive equipment and often don’t even need to even buy the games that they want to try. There have been attempts to introduce cloud gaming since the start of this century. Many of the biggest names in the industry have launched services since then, but the results have been mixed so far.
When we consider what type of person is most likely to try cloud gaming, we can see that Millennials tend to play more games than those from Gen Z. These results come from a study of American and British gamers, and the study suggests that Millennials have grown up seeing how the gaming world has evolved and improved over the years. This could mean that they’re more likely to be impressed by the jump in quality with cloud gaming, although it’s likely to appeal to all gamers in general. Users can join a service that streams the games onto their screen, making it easy to get started.
The Google Approach
Google Stadia was fully launched at the end of 2019, but by the start of 2023 the service had been cancelled. Stadia had received poor reviews from the start, with the relative lack of games and the fact that the expected features didn’t materialize among the chief complaints made by users.
The idea by Google was to create their own games and add third-party titles as well. However, it was recently reported by IGN that they want to provide cloud infrastructure for other providers, rather than run their own streaming platform for gamers.
What Is Microsoft Doing?
Microsoft has confirmed the signing of a ten-year deal that will see their Xbox collection and Activision Blizzard games like Call of Duty added to the Boosteroid service, which is added to other deals with Nintendo and Nvidia. With Boosteroid, gamers need to buy the games and then access them through the company servers.
Xbox titles are already available through the Xbox cloud gaming platform. Yet, this report from TechCrunch suggests that their latest deals are designed to try and persuade regulators to accept Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
The Future of Cloud Gaming
Research carried out by Newzoo points to the cloud gaming market will be worth $6.5 billion by 2024. Many of the world’s gamers could move over to this type of service in the next few years, as it makes sense for them to play in this way with faster, easier access to new and existing games.
what we’ve been seeing lately is how the major technology companies are positioning themselves to try and get the biggest and most profitable slice of the market on their own terms.
While some of them may carry on providing their own cloud gaming platforms, it seems that others will be happy to stay in the background and make money from this gaming method by providing the cloud infrastructure and other services needed to make it work.
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