The Dawn of "Streamed Gaming" is Upon Us!
I remember it like it was yesterday. The Eurogamer Expo in 2011. I turned up to the event and one of the first things I noticed upon entering the venue was this huge queue at the back of the hall, with a ginormous stand as the backdrop! After curiosity got the better of me, I headed straight to it only to discover this new startup company called "OnLive" giving out free consoles, complete with customised gamepad, for absolutely free! An initiative on their part, to get their streaming games service out to the masses. And after testing it out at home, found that it worked amazingly well. Authenitc "On demand" gaming at your fingertips. No install needed, no disks, just pickup and play. It all looked too good to be true. However in 2015, due to unexpected hugely inflated losses, "OnLive" closed shop for good. So, what went wrong?
Well, timing could well be the main culprit. Connections weren't as fast as they are today. In addition to the general public still not used to the idea of digital streaming per se. People were of the mindset that you had to own a physical copy of whatever you purchased. Be it a movie, game or music. But things were, even back then, in the process of changing. And in today's evolved entertainment climate, the world seems ready for that change to finally be implemented. So, enter Google with their brand new gaming system, Stadia. Yes, the multi-billion dollar corporate giant is ready to take on the likes of Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo within one of the most lucrative, yet highly competitive industries in the world.
All we've got to go on so far is a gamepad. Nothing unusual here. Just your standard, run-of-the-mill ten button iteration similar to its Playstation or Xbox One counterparts. What "is" slightly more interesting are what Google's new services will be capable of. Apparently, you'll get a seamless experience outdoing any console currently on the market, with an out-of-the-box 60 fps running at 4K resolution. And this can also, in the future, be bumped up to a staggering 120 fps running at 8K resolution. Unbelievable claims yet something that the competition should most definitely not take lightly. We are fast moving into an age where purchasing and owning actual media for our entertainment requirements, is being gradually phased out. I recall Blu-ray touted as the next big thing after DVD. And look how that turned out. Netflix is already responsible for the demise of many huge retail outlets. Tower Records, Virgin and the now ailing HMW, were your one-stop shop for everything games and movies related, once upon a time. Not any more. Even music services like Spotify are cornering the market and reducing CD sales by insane margins. We are now officially a nation of streamers and therefore it makes sense that video games will be the next logical step.
Also not forgetting that we aren't dealing with some small startup armed with a limited amount of capital and broad visions of the future. It's the almighty behemoth that is Google. And if the idea is legit, you can be damn sure they'll make it work. I must say, it is with a touch of sadness that I witnessed this shift in the way we consume media, over the years. Sauntering into my local record store to flick through all the latest albums, whilst reading the back of the cover sleeve, had almost an addictive quality to it. But that's just pure nostalgia speaking. Things are very different now and I'm fully on-board with whatever direction the industry wants to go.
In a time when competition is at the highest it's ever been as well as the fickle nature of the global masses, streaming appears to be the most practical option on the table. Who knows? The age of the console may soon be cast to the scrap heap of technological relics, given a few years time. Sad but true. Let's watch this space and find out, shall we? :)
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I don't think this is a great time for games to be streamed. The concept of ownership and licencing becomes unclear, and future support of games isn't guaranteed.
I feel like the 'fear' of this is what has driven a lot of popularity into "vintage" games. Combine that with the dizzying number of game releases, and increasingly sprawling game worlds, and you've got a recipe for a large number of games you'll never even get to touch!
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