Is Cloud Gaming and Cloud Computing the future?

[pjcnet]

With cloud gaming and computing it has already become possible to use the Internet to play video games remotely on consoles we don't own or even access a much more powerful PC as if you're sitting at it by using real time streaming technology.

There are already quite a few cloud gaming services available including Playstation Now which is like a Netflix for games for PS3 and now also some PS4 games and some companies are starting to allow people to rent powerful "virtual" PCs, even gaming PCs using services such as LiquidSky or Playkey.

The disadvantage is these services rely entirely on a fairly fast, low latency (good ping rate) and stable internet connection, especially for higher resolution streaming. If there's any internet outage or drop in connection it will interrupt the service immediately and even if the speed drops temporarily it can cause a breakdown in video quality and noticeable lag, for this reason there has been issues for some people and some early pioneering services have also failed due to poor reliability. Playstation Now requires a minimum of a stable 5 megabit connection with a good ping rate (you will only get 720p) and 12 megabits is recommended, although some services are recommending 20 megabits for a good quality 1080p connection. A direct cable connection to your router is highly recommended, but if you must use wireless it must be a strong reliable signal. With better fibre optic internet available in most areas however faster speeds and reliable stable connections aren't an issue for a larger number of people, plus it's likely to continue to get better, also the services themselves are improving, especially with large companies like Sony investing in the technology. There will be some lag, although I've been using Playstation Now and for myself it hasn't been noticeable when using Virgin Media cable (fibre) in the UK and it's almost as good as if I've got a PS3 or PS4 console myself (which I haven't).

The big advantage is you can potentially have access to any games console or PC no matter how powerful it is from a low spec PC without actually owning the system you're connected to, although there is already software available to remotely access your own system remotely if you wish. In fact some cloud services have even been fully accessable from smart TVs or from extremely cheap systems such as the Raspberry Pi, although Playstation Now have recently withdrawn support for smart TVs (probably due to reliability issues, although in future this may change as smart TVs get better and they may even design smart TVs with cloud gaming and cloud computing in mind). Playstation Now already gives you access to an expanding library of literally hundreds of games for a relatively small monthly fee and it really is like a Netflix for games even today, there are also other cloud gaming services and quite a few new services are being planned with other large companies getting involved. The other advantage is you only need to own cheap low spec hardware which you never really need to upgrade (well certainly not for a long time, perhaps in the future when average Internet speeds are even faster and there's many 4K options if your current system can't handle 4K). Since the real system is effectively online (in a cloud) it can be accessable where-ever you go as long as you have a good enough Internet connection and services will probably even become a lot more reliable from fully mobile devices as mobile Internet services for smart phones continue to improve.

Do you think cloud services are the future? E.g. a high proportion of people won't buy powerful games consoles or PCs any more in say 5 years time? Instead will many people just be using cheap or older systems, smart TVs or even cheap set top box designed exclusively to connect to cloud services while paying subscriptions for these services instead? Maybe we will even see movie/TV streaming services such as Netflix and cloud gaming services combined into one complete entertainment service? The whole concept is certainly a very interesting and exciting possibility and in my opinion we are already well on the way to this becoming a reality.


PS: Playstation Now offers a 7 day free trial to test the service so you can test whether it's reliable for yourself, but you must cancel within the trial period or you will be charged the subscription fee which is currently £12.99 a month in the UK.

 

[Mr Allen]

No, IMO it could lead to mass Pirating, which is completely and utterly wrong.

Also, Cloud gaming requires ridiculously expensive and fast servers to support the demand, nobody at the moment can afford them.

 

[pjcnet]

No, IMO it could lead to mass Pirating, which is completely and utterly wrong.

Also, Cloud gaming requires ridiculously expensive and fast servers to support the demand, nobody at the moment can afford them.

On the contrary, the current services offering remote "virtual" PCs have strict anti-piracy rules, they could of course be broken, but if the company enforces their rules they could ban any customer if they install pirated software on their machines without refunding the remainder of their subscription, plus they'd lose everything installed on the PC, so it's very likely to reduce piracy leaving pirates mainly using home PCs as they do now. Also it's impossible to pirate using services that access the games directly like Playstation Now and like Netflix the service gives people access to a large library at a relatively cheap price so again it will most probably reduce piracy (it's a feasible and affordable alternative). There's also one service where you buy PC games legally directly from the cloud service provider and/or you can access only Steam games that you own, also again you can only access the games directly and this makes piracy impossible.

If pirate services tried to offer cloud game streaming themselves it will cost them a lot of money in bandwidth and hardware, I really can't see it being feasible for them to offer such a service from donations and adverts alone, also if there was any free services that for instance illegally offered the latest releases, the demand for them would be far too great meaning it would be like a lottery trying to connect to them, then if you did the service is unlikely to be reliable. It is possible you could get illegal unlicensed cloud gaming services charging subscription fees to access the latest games that aren't available on legal subscription services, but people would be taking a risk paying for such services and reliability would be questionable with no guarantees, they probably wouldn't take off or even exist in the first place. I think pirates will stick to home piracy not in the cloud as they do now and with a lot more multiplayer games or games with a lot of multiplayer features piracy is becoming more limited anyway (for instance if you downloaded Call of Duty WW2 on the PC illegally you would only be-able to play the relatively short single player campaign and zombies alone making it barely worthwhile). Also surprisingly the Xbox One and PS4 still haven't been properly cracked to allow them to play pirated games (with the exception of clone drive consoles being sold in places like Brazil). Yes there will always be some piracy, but I think cloud gaming is overall likely to reduce, not increase it.

Yes they do need fast servers / lots of hardware to support the demand, but it can't be unfeasible as it's happening already and with the likes of Sony involved other large companies are likely to offer alternative services soon too and I don't think £12.99 a month to access hundreds of PS3 and now even some PS4 games with an ever increasing library is inaffordable (there are cheaper services still, but with less games).

 

[Jorg]

Mmm interesting, I guess is a posibillity but I hope not. Even when internet speed may be getting faster and cheaper in some countries for most people it would be a pain in the ... to download and play games in the cloud. Even worse with games getting bigger and bigger in their data size it would get worse.

I myself find uncomfortable downloading some games with my 8MB connection, Bioshock Infinite (36GB) needs like a day and a half to download and that considering only my laptop connected, GTA V is like 65GB if I'm correct and Forza 7 I heard is around 100GB.

Even in cloud not downloading all the content it will still require to download some files and the network needed to play in real time without any lag or large ping would be considerable.

Probably cloud gaming will not be mainstream in the next 5 or 10 years at least.

 

[pjcnet]

Mmm interesting, I guess is a posibillity but I hope not. Even when internet speed may be getting faster and cheaper in some countries for most people it would be a pain in the ... to download and play games in the cloud. Even worse with games getting bigger and bigger in their data size it would get worse.

I myself find uncomfortable downloading some games with my 8MB connection, Bioshock Infinite (36GB) needs like a day and a half to download and that considering only my laptop connected, GTA V is like 65GB if I'm correct and Forza 7 I heard is around 100GB.

Even in cloud not downloading all the content it will still require to download some files and the network needed to play in real time without any lag or large ping would be considerable.

Probably cloud gaming will not be mainstream in the next 5 or 10 years at least.

You don't need to download the game when playing it in the cloud and you don't need a large drive either, it's the same as watching a movie almost instantly when watching it on Netflix, you don't have to wait to download it first because it's being streamed while you watch it. On Playstation Now it takes around 15 to 20 seconds to start a game, then you have to wait for it to load past the title credits and that's it, the game itself is being streamed like a video, except you control the action as if it was playing locally. You could think of it like you are watching a game being streamed on Twitch or YouTube Live, except you also have a connection to the remote console or PC that is streaming the video game so you can control the action, but this all has to be done extremely quickly to avoid any noticeable lag. Because it needs such a fast response time it can barely buffer any video in advance unlike when just watching a movie or other video stream and that's why your Internet connection needs to be very reliable as it won't handle even a 1 second drop that is significantly below the minimum speed requirement without an interruption, that's also why wired connections are more recommended at the moment. Of course you are using quite a bit of Internet bandwidth which will keep being used while you play the game in the same way as you use bandwidth while you're watching a movie on Netflix, except it will usually use quite a bit more (I guess on average about treble, but that's a wild guess and it depends on the service and quality, I've seen one service require a 20 megabit connection which is much more), but with unlimited fibre and more cloud gaming services appearing the service providers will have to accept and ensure their network can handle it as the demand increases, they had to do this when Netflix and various other movie / TV streaming services started to become very popular.