Poll: Is Gaming Heading to Streaming Rather Than Performing?

As we are heading into 2017, the gaming industry is still launching new hardware, however it is also clear to see, that there are companies working on better software.

For our generation, it's been if you have the hardware, you can run the software. But it's slowly changing now to everything being in the "cloud."

We are slowly watching games being pushed into a streaming service, such as PlayStation Now, letting users stream PS3 games to other platforms. And there is also Nvidia's Ge-force experience which can let you stream your games to other devices...

With streaming games, people can play whatever on any device theoretically. And the speeds of the internet for the general consumer is getting better every decade. Eventually, the gaming industries will eventually find streaming more profitable because;

1. they can charge monthly for software (receive more than $60 without DLC)
2. remove the cost of dlc as it will be a service
3. prevent unfair advantages/mods
4. sell consoles for cheap

There are many more benefits to streaming games in the future. I strongly believe Microsoft had the intentions of making the first Xbox One like this, which was the reason for the "always connected" DRM. It wasn't to spy, but to allow developers to begin the transition of the future of gaming.

Let's face it, the cloud is becoming everything, how long will gaming stay as a hardware battle before the gaming platforms are just Internet clients?

Share your thoughts in the comments below, and be sure to vote in the site poll: How Long Before Gaming Turns Completely Cloud-based?

 

[Foe]

Remember ryan111 he was spreading bs on ps4 scene.. so I requested gta to be unbanned so she can spread her bs too as since Ryan was allowed to do it

really? i rather have ryan than these shitbags anyday come'on man pick your poison

 

[Wultra]

I don't forget things you know... I take this sh1t serious and fight for the right and fair usage off the site... I've worked and hosted many sites I know what the rules.. I would off used if psxhax was my own site and they be the same as any other forum.. but psxhax like his rules to be different and we should / shall respect it

 

[Foe]

I don't forget things you know... I take this sh1t serious and fight for the right and fair usage off the site... I've worked and hosted many sites I know what the rules.. I would off used and they be the same as any other forum.. but psxhax like his rules to be different and we should / shall respect it

@VultraAID @PSXHAX it's whatever but when these people come back and lie and/or try to pull another money scandle don't come crying to me idk about you guys but i hate liars and scammers but i guess you guys can stand them.

 

[Wultra]

@VultraAID @PSXHAX it's whatever but when these people come back and lie and/or try to pull another money scandle don't come crying to me idk about you guys but i hate liars and scammers but i guess you guys can stand them.

I moaned about her being back online.. I still hate her till this day but one point she will probably be banned again for doing scammy crap you just gotta watch and point it out and it would be a perm ban

 

[SwordOfWar]

This won't be a viable replacement for local gaming for many years. I've said this before PSNow was available and the main drawbacks I talked about years ago are still relevant to this day.

Game streaming has 3 major problems.

1. Input lag.

The delay between doing an action on your keyboard/controller, and the time it takes for the action to happen on your display is just too damn long. Try playing any type of game that requires quick reflexes, such as a shooting or driving game. You will cry in anger. It is so obvious that input lag is a big problem, and the fact that most TVs currently in the market have high input lag already, making it even worse. Only recently have reviews of TVs even started measuring input lag, so it's been difficult to pin down what TV to buy even for consumers who were aware of this.

2. Internet

Almost nobody has the internet bandwidth required to provide a similar experience of picture quality compared to running a game locally. Today it seems like everything is moving to internet streaming which also doesn't help. 4K streaming is a huge bandwidth hog, and the problem is even worse when other people in the house are doing things like watching netflix, youtube, uploading pictures/videos to facebook. All of those activities are going to kill the performance of game streaming, because everything will begin relying on your internet connection and the available internet packages for consumers is simply not good enough. Imagine you're game streaming and its working okay, then someone starts downloading a new movie or a big update and it slows your connection down causing your game image quality to either drop resolution or to stutter/stop completely due to constraints on your internet bandwidth.

If you happen to lose internet service or don't have access to it for whatever reason, you can't access any of your game library.

3. Flexibility and preservation

- With game streaming, you pay a monthly fee or whatever, and you get access to a library of games that could change at any moment. Maybe they add some games, maybe after some time older games get pulled from the service and you're out of luck. At least with physical releases you get to keep those games as long as you take care not to damage them.

- Trade/Borrow/Share
You don't actually own anything, so you can't resale or share any games.

There are just too many problems with game streaming to recommend it to anyone over just buying the hardware and games you want. There is a reason Sony had to lower prices of it's PSNow service, and it's because the experience of game streaming doesn't come close to matching the advantages of playing and owning your own games locally.

Much of the drawbacks are because current internet packages for consumers are simply not good enough, and if you're one of the extremely rare people to have a top end internet connection, the cost is likely very high for it.

 

[Radio]

I don't think where going FULLY cloud based anytime soon.