Yeah, been hearing that shit since OnLive. 15 years later and cloud gaming is still niche. Throw that prediction together with “we’ll have super AI by 2030”. Neither Nvidia’s Geforce NOW or Xbox Cloud Gaming have open financial reports, being thrown together under other umbrellas. Google didn’t have the foresight to see that cloud gaming wasn’t “the next big thing”, but at least it was a project that surprised no one when they announced it was being killed.
The only reason to think “we’ll all be streaming games” in 3 years is because nobody will be able to buy electronics due to AI shitting the RAM market. The more likely result is more people making do with what they have and less games aiming for 300GB install size and 16GB minimum VRAM
The only one that I think stands a chance is the xbox one, and that’s assuming they combine it with gamepass. Because that was the only thing that sounded even somewhat appealing to me about the idea of remote gaming: being able to try a bunch of different games legally without needing to buy them all. Like netflix but for games (and not just mobile games like the actual netflix games).
Having my own devices that can handle playing games, I have zero interest in paying full price for a game I own even less than most games these days (because at least with the files all being stored and run locally, it opens up other possibilities, like hacking it to still run without DRM if its DRM server goes out or modding it). That was deal breaker #1.
Dealbreaker #2 is of course the latency. I use an ETX via VPN for my work and just typing on that thing is annoying because of the latency.
The subscription cost is another big negative, though I guess I wouldn’t call it a dealbreaker. Though I currently have 0 video game related subscriptions (I don’t count netflix, assuming they haven’t given up on their games).
On the pros side, the only things I can think of is that it limits cheating (though separate devices would still work) and it gives you an option to play if you don’t have a device capable of playing it, though you do still need a device, a display and sound system, and a good internet connection.
AAA gaming is full of execs who have not grasped how their industry has already begun imploding. The survivors in the all digital potato PC world will be the indie devs and Steam since Steam sells their games. The indie game devs write their games to run on anything. The other survivor will be the free to play studios who have already won every market they’ve entered. If they don’t own a gaming market yet its because they haven’t bothered winning it. Look at active player counts. Franchises like Battlefield and Call of Duty are way down the charts from the free to play shooter games.
Franchises like Battlefield and Call of Duty are way down the charts from the free to play shooter games.
I think a big part of that is they are usually monetized the same (or even more aggressively) as the free to play games, but you also have to pay $60 up front every couple of years to keep playing because they come out with a new one (nuking any community they previously had built, further fracturing their community). It’s like they watch other games make bank on a concept and monetization system and think they can do the same thing, but they only copy the bad parts and then wonder why it doesn’t make them billions in a just a couple years.
The free to play listen to player feedback and incorporate related design or development features in a timely manner. If there’s a bug they fix it. If they want a new feature, they strongly consider it. The AAA gaming industry has been inwardly focused for about 10 years now. Watch The Game Awards and you see its just like the Oscars. Awards going to a lot of very obscure titles for checking some box on the social justice agendas. Some games like CS2 stay at the top by simply not making major changes for the worse when they already have a winning formula for their market that nobody wants to see changes.
Aside from the California-western europe developer culture, I think a lot of it has to do with the people above AAA gaming who make the major decisions are not themselves in the industry but in enterprise services or the business community. Microsoft top people may know how to squeeze profits out of enterprise customers but they’ve been clueless on gaming.
Those making entertainment products aimed at the mass market can either avoid making political and social statements or they can accept being a niche market product. It’s about making enough money that people don’t have to be laid off. The people running these companies for the last 10 years have failed to accomplish that.
Yeah, been hearing that shit since OnLive. 15 years later and cloud gaming is still niche. Throw that prediction together with “we’ll have super AI by 2030”. Neither Nvidia’s Geforce NOW or Xbox Cloud Gaming have open financial reports, being thrown together under other umbrellas. Google didn’t have the foresight to see that cloud gaming wasn’t “the next big thing”, but at least it was a project that surprised no one when they announced it was being killed.
The only reason to think “we’ll all be streaming games” in 3 years is because nobody will be able to buy electronics due to AI shitting the RAM market. The more likely result is more people making do with what they have and less games aiming for 300GB install size and 16GB minimum VRAM
The only one that I think stands a chance is the xbox one, and that’s assuming they combine it with gamepass. Because that was the only thing that sounded even somewhat appealing to me about the idea of remote gaming: being able to try a bunch of different games legally without needing to buy them all. Like netflix but for games (and not just mobile games like the actual netflix games).
Having my own devices that can handle playing games, I have zero interest in paying full price for a game I own even less than most games these days (because at least with the files all being stored and run locally, it opens up other possibilities, like hacking it to still run without DRM if its DRM server goes out or modding it). That was deal breaker #1.
Dealbreaker #2 is of course the latency. I use an ETX via VPN for my work and just typing on that thing is annoying because of the latency.
The subscription cost is another big negative, though I guess I wouldn’t call it a dealbreaker. Though I currently have 0 video game related subscriptions (I don’t count netflix, assuming they haven’t given up on their games).
On the pros side, the only things I can think of is that it limits cheating (though separate devices would still work) and it gives you an option to play if you don’t have a device capable of playing it, though you do still need a device, a display and sound system, and a good internet connection.
AAA gaming is full of execs who have not grasped how their industry has already begun imploding. The survivors in the all digital potato PC world will be the indie devs and Steam since Steam sells their games. The indie game devs write their games to run on anything. The other survivor will be the free to play studios who have already won every market they’ve entered. If they don’t own a gaming market yet its because they haven’t bothered winning it. Look at active player counts. Franchises like Battlefield and Call of Duty are way down the charts from the free to play shooter games.
I think a big part of that is they are usually monetized the same (or even more aggressively) as the free to play games, but you also have to pay $60 up front every couple of years to keep playing because they come out with a new one (nuking any community they previously had built, further fracturing their community). It’s like they watch other games make bank on a concept and monetization system and think they can do the same thing, but they only copy the bad parts and then wonder why it doesn’t make them billions in a just a couple years.
The free to play listen to player feedback and incorporate related design or development features in a timely manner. If there’s a bug they fix it. If they want a new feature, they strongly consider it. The AAA gaming industry has been inwardly focused for about 10 years now. Watch The Game Awards and you see its just like the Oscars. Awards going to a lot of very obscure titles for checking some box on the social justice agendas. Some games like CS2 stay at the top by simply not making major changes for the worse when they already have a winning formula for their market that nobody wants to see changes.
Aside from the California-western europe developer culture, I think a lot of it has to do with the people above AAA gaming who make the major decisions are not themselves in the industry but in enterprise services or the business community. Microsoft top people may know how to squeeze profits out of enterprise customers but they’ve been clueless on gaming.
You had me until the social justice comment.
Why can’t gamers appreciate diversity lol
Diversity is good. But don’t tell me you yourself can’t feel the vibe when it’s forced in.
Those making entertainment products aimed at the mass market can either avoid making political and social statements or they can accept being a niche market product. It’s about making enough money that people don’t have to be laid off. The people running these companies for the last 10 years have failed to accomplish that.