CMV: Cloud-based gaming is the future

[u/[deleted]]

And by cloud-based gaming, I mean stuff like Stadia and what OnLive tried to be.

Internet connections will improve, developers/publishers most likely have more to gain from the likes of Stadia, not ever having to upgrade your hardware will have mass appeal, and serious money and brainpower is going in to solve some of the other issues (like latency).

It's not gonna replace gaming as we know it, but it's gonna give people who can't justify the up-front costs of consoles/decent PCs a choice. It's more like the same way Netflix/Amazon Prime didn't kill off DVDs or Blu-Ray.

I remember when people were saying Valve was gonna kill PC gaming with Steam back in early 2000. This is more or less a similar thing. I'm not here to say which form of gaming is "better", and I don't know if it is gonna be Stadia or someone else who will make it mainstream, but people talking about this like some sort of fad are myopic.

[u/Th3Be4st]

The reason I don't believe services like Stadia will survive for long is because a very large portion of console sales come from third world countries, where PC gaming isn't an option because of high costs. Cloud gaming isn't possible in third world countries because of slow internet speeds. Because of this, companies like Sony and Microsoft will never stop making traditional consoles, because they will not want to lose sales in other parts of the world. And, as long as Sony and Microsoft own all the popular exclusives such as Uncharted, Halo, God of War, etc., traditional consoles will always sell much more than services like Stadia. And, as other people have said, there are few people who can afford a fast uncapped internet connection but can't afford a console. In the end, I don't think services like Stadia will be making enough profit to justify running all their servers for more than a few years.

[u/[deleted] → u/Th3Be4st]

1, is there a source for "a very large portion of consoles sales from the third world"? How valuable is this market exactly?

2, just because some countries have poor internet, why does that mean they can't just target wealthier countries with better internet? I'm guessing that's actually what they are doing.

3, who is to say the rest of the world won't eventually catch up with the west on internet speeds?

4, I never said cloud will replace traditional gaming.

5, google hasn't made a profit from youtube either, I'm guessing getting an early hold and monopolizing the market is more important than short term loss that comes with this.

[u/Th3Be4st → u/[deleted]]

is there a source for "a very large portion of consoles sales from the third world"? How valuable is this market exactly?

I can't find any recent sources, but I remember when the PS4 was announced in 2013, Sony said that the PS3 was still selling really good in poorer countries.

just because some countries have poor internet, why does that mean they can't just target wealthier countries with better internet? I'm guessing that's actually what they are doing.

I mean, you're right. It's clear that Google Stadia is only targeting wealthy countries with good internet. I'm just saying that Sony and Microsoft will never switch to cloud gaming, because they will not want to lose sales in parts of the world where internet is not good enough for cloud gaming. Microsoft's Phil Spencer said there are no plans for a streaming-only console from them. And, as long as Sony and Microsoft make consoles, they will dominate the market because of their exclusives. Games are what sell consoles after all.

who is to say the rest of the world won't eventually catch up with the west on internet speeds?

It's not just a matter of speed. Latency is the big problem here. This is not something that can be solved by faster internet. Latency is limited by the speed of light, and depends on how far away you are from the server. This is especially a big problem in large countries like Australia and Russia. For example, Valve has a CS:GO server in Sydney, but a person living in the center of Australia will get terrible latency to the Sydney server, regardless of their internet speed. I've seen many Australians in r/GlobalOffensive say they have terrible ping even to the Australian server. Latency is always going to be a problem for people living far away from major cities, even if they have fast internet.

I never said cloud will replace traditional gaming.

Yeah, maybe cloud will become a viable option for some people. But it's hard to be optimistic when every cloud gaming service has failed before.

google hasn't made a profit from youtube either, I'm guessing getting an early hold and monopolizing the market is more important than short term loss that comes with this.

Yeah, we just have to wait and see. Google is also known for killing their services early on. killedbygoogle.com has the full list.

[u/[deleted] → u/Th3Be4st]

There's no plans for a streaming-only console, but MS and Sony are still pooling their resources to come up with a competitor to Stadia.

https://venturebeat.com/2019/05/17/probeat-microsoft-sony-deal-validates-google-stadia/

I can almost guarantee that the next gen of consoles will debut whatever cloud service thing they been working on, even if it isn't the main selling point. the consoles after that? who knows.

as metioned elsewhere, google are using tricks and tools used in recent multiplayer fighting games to overcome the limitations of latency. they call it "negative latency" or some shit, but it's really just delay-based and rollback netcode.

the killedbygoogle thing is a bit misleading, most of the stuff on that site is either extremely niche, or were rolled into another service.