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War for the Netflix of gaming: featuring Google, Amazon, Microsoft, EA, Sony

J1M

Arcane
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May 14, 2008
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14,616
Expect a ton of compression artefacts and a lot of input lag.
Yes, making turn-based games the only kind that could actually work. (It's still a bad idea.)
 

J1M

Arcane
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Messages
14,616
It's actually kind of funny that the industry is pushing this and VR, which requires super high end low latency hardware.
 

Shackleton

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Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture
As someone who's got an Nvidia Shield and some actual experience of the state of remote streaming currently, I know it's coming. GeForce Now works well enough with a fast connection, even over wifi, that 'normal' gamers won't really be able to tell the servers are miles away. There's occasionally some small amount of input lag, but it's only noticeable very rarely. I'm sure hardcore fighting game autists won't be interested, but for Joe Bloggs it'll do just fine. My lad can play all the Lego games he wants and never has any grumbles about controls not responding or characters warping about.

The question is always going to be about cost and internet connection speed. GeForce Now is free currently, but they've always shied away from giving any details on the price once it's out of beta. Anything over a tenner a month or so and it's going to be cheaper longer term to look at a console, especially with having to buy games for streaming at full price. The other problem is it uses a total shitload of data and bandwidth, so forget about downloading anything else in the house while someone's game streaming, otherwise you really do get artifacts and really bad lagging. I DL'd the Division 2 beta while my lad was playing and even with my connection being wired and him over wifi, it was badly affecting his play. On the positive side, any games I buy for him are on Steam or another TP launcher so if I stop with GFN he can play them through my old laptop.

Personally, I think it'll have its place in the market, but can't see it as anything but a niche area unless the big boys forget about standalone consoles and focus on it totally.
 

Heretic

Cipher
Joined
Dec 1, 2015
Messages
844
Those companies just WANT to have an always online, always listening interactive device in all our households.
Get in through entertainment, make you used to monthly payments, leverage the device to gather data on you and funnel all your purchases into their kingdom.

To that I say

FUCK OFF.
 

Heretic

Cipher
Joined
Dec 1, 2015
Messages
844
Those companies just WANT to have an always online, always listening interactive device in all our households.
Get in through entertainment, make you used to monthly payments, leverage the device to gather data on you and funnel all your purchases into their kingdom.
Damn, that sounds like a mobile phone.
 

LESS T_T

Arcane
Joined
Oct 5, 2012
Messages
13,582
Codex 2014
Even Walmart: https://www.usgamer.net/articles/walmart-video-game-streaming-service-exclusive

Exclusive: Walmart is Talking to Developers and Publishers About a Potential Streaming Service
The American retail giant is exploring a jump into the untested video game streaming space.


Google made headlines this week when it announced its arrival into the video game space with a new streaming venture called Stadia. But according to sources, another major corporation is investigating the video game streaming business too, and it's none other than Walmart.

Multiple sources familiar with Walmart's plans, who wish to remain anonymous, confirmed to USG that the retail giant is exploring its own platform to enter in the now-competitive video game streaming race. No other details were revealed other than it will be a streaming service for video games, and that Walmart has been speaking with developers and publishers since earlier this year and throughout this year's Game Developers Conference.

Walmart's discussions with developers for its streaming service have been secretive, and it's unclear how far along the service is in-development. But our sources are confident that this is a space Walmart is trying to move into.

Though Walmart might sound like a strange company to be jumping into the streaming tech space, the move isn't wholly unexpected. In recent years due to competition from Amazon, Walmart has been increasingly looking into more tech-focused markets beyond its traditional physical retail chain.

Over time, Walmart has integrated its physical stores with its large online presence, offering deliveries, app integrations, and in-store pick up services. Walmart also has a technology arm in Silicon Valley called Walmart Labs, which has 6,000 employees and develops tech for Walmart's digital presence. In addition it boasts tools like Cruxlux, which is a search engine designed to reveal the connection between any two people, places, or things.

Finally, Walmart has a data center unofficially called Area 71 in Caverna, Missouri which holds over 460 trillion bytes of data. Data centers are a centerpiece of Google's Stadia streaming service and companies like Microsoft, Amazon, and Apple also own powerful data facilities, all of whom are also coincidentally working in streaming technology.

There's a chance that these are just exploratory meetings on Walmart's part. The company shelved plans for a Netflix-style video streaming service after deeming the field "too risky," according to a CNBC report from January. While Walmart abandoned video streaming, it still supports the digital video storefront Vudu—evidence that the company hasn't completely abandoned potential digital tracks. And considering that video game streaming is still new, Walmart could consider the field fresh and open enough to move into.

We've reached out to Walmart for confirmation and comment on its plans. For now, it seems that the video game streaming wars are just beginning.
 

LESS T_T

Arcane
Joined
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Messages
13,582
Codex 2014
And Apple announced their subscription (NOT streaming) service for paid (no microtransactions, no ads) games, called Arcade. The games are downloadable and playable offline, on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV.

Also teasing new games from Will Wright and Final Fantasy creator. They'll have some exclusive games.





https://venturebeat.com/2019/03/25/apple-unveils-apple-arcade-subscription-gaming-service/

Apple unveils Apple Arcade subscription gaming service

Apple announced a premium game subscription, Apple Arcade, for its App Store. This bundles together paid iPhone and iPad games that consumers can play for a monthly fee. The service is coming this fall, with the company still needing to tell us how much it’s going to cost.

Confirming rumors, the service fee will be divided among the game developers, based on how much time gamers spend playing each game. Players will get more than 100 games on the service, and it will be available in more than 150 countries.


“We want to make gaming even better,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook at the company’s press briefing today.

Subscriptions are popular in games these days. Sony offers its PlayStation Plus on the PS4 for $10 a month, and Sony also offers PlayStation Now cloud gaming on the PC and PS4 for $20 a month. Microsoft has its Xbox Live Gold service for $10 a month on the Xbox One and Xbox 360, and it also offers its Xbox Game Pass on the Xbox One for $10 a month.

On the streaming front, Amazon Prime gives you access to Twitch Prime, which otherwise costs $13 a month on the PC and Mac. Utomik also offers $6 a month service for instantly accessible games. And EA is offering its EA Access service for $5 a month. EA also offers Origin Access for $5 a month.

Subscriptions are a good way to get reliable revenue at a time when free-to-play games carry so much risk. Google is likely to charge some kind of subscription fee for its Stadia cloud gaming platform, but Google has declined to comment on that so far.

Ann Tai, marketing manager for the App Store, said there are 1 billion people who have downloaded games from the store. There are 300,000 games available. Besides paid and free-to-play games, there will now be a new subscription category.

“Competing with free is hard,” Tai said. “With a single subscription, you will get access to more than 100 new games.”

These games are exclusive to Apple Arcade. You can download and play any game from the app store.

You can play them on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV. Every game will be playable offline, so you can play anywhere, regardless of your internet connection. All game features are included, with no ads and no additional purchases. Parents can manage kids’ game time with controls.

Apple Arcade games cannot collect any data about you without your consent. It will be curated by Apple’s own team of editors, and your family will be able to share it for no additional charge.
 
Self-Ejected

unfairlight

Self-Ejected
Joined
Aug 20, 2017
Messages
4,092
Oh wow. This sure is something. At least it isn't streaming based.
Infinitron How about adding Apple to the end of this title now?
 

Valky

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Manlet
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Aug 22, 2016
Messages
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Trapped in a bioform
What a fucking joke, I can't wait for this gay shit to fuck off and die just like every other time it has, along with VR and the failure that has become (laughable gimmick that people pay hundreds for to play some gay looking shit like vr chat and zero good games, it's effectively become reduced to "bottom of the barrel youtube content")
 

DemonKing

Arcane
Joined
Dec 5, 2003
Messages
5,958
Not sure how Apple games service will appeal to hardcore gamers - phone games are already quite limited and given the low storage capacity of Apple TVs there's not exactly a lot of room there for installing a ton of games.
 

LESS T_T

Arcane
Joined
Oct 5, 2012
Messages
13,582
Codex 2014
Antstream, a streaming service for retro games, is on Kickstarter.



Confirmed game list, many of them are Japanese arcade games (SNK, Data East, and Arc System Works, which owns Technos IPs) but there are also a number of C64 and Amiga games:

Lowest tier is about 37 USD and it gives you 6-month subscription when it launches in August.

To be honest, if they can get those licenses I hope they just sell those games on Steam and GOG properly.
 

LESS T_T

Arcane
Joined
Oct 5, 2012
Messages
13,582
Codex 2014
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/artic...et-double-the-gameplay-time-of-streamed-games

PlayStation Now downloads get double the play time of streamed games
Sony's on-demand service has 700k subscribers, and many of them are choosing downloads over streams

Downloaded games have quickly come to dominate PlayStation Now, proving twice as popular as streamed titles on Sony's on-demand service.

PlayStation Now launched as a streaming service in 2014, and Sony only added the option to download games from its catalogue in September 2018. As Sony chief financial officer Hiroki Totoki explained in a call with investors last week, the feature was added, "for users who want to enjoy gameplay without worrying about the network connections."

The move has proved to be decisive in terms of user retention and engagement, Totoki said. Seven months on from the feature being added, downloaded games receive double the amount of gameplay time compared to streamed titles.

Microsoft chose the download model for its own on-demand service, Xbox Game Pass, and the fact that it has made such an immediate impact on PlayStation Now raises questions about the quality of experience a game streaming service can provide at present. It should be noted, of course, that Microsoft is also preparing to launch its own streaming service, with the first public tests schedule to take place later this year.

Speaking to investors, Totoki said that PlayStation Now's audience has increased by around 40% each year since the service launched. At present, it has 700,000 subscribers, with subscription costs ranging from $19.99 for a single month to $99.99 for an entire year.

Totoki also pointed out that the PlayStation Now catalogue has 750 games, more than three times the amount of the next largest game subscription service.

When asked is cloud gaming was "a threat" to Sony Interactive Entertainment, CEO Kenichiro Yoshida said, "I think there may be a threat, but we have to turn the threat into an opportunity."

I guess this is a no brainer since the vast majority of subscribers of PS Now already have PS4, the device that meant to running those games, unlike Google's hypothetical audience, people with non-gaming devices.
 

LESS T_T

Arcane
Joined
Oct 5, 2012
Messages
13,582
Codex 2014
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-09-10-ea-readying-cloud-gaming-technical-trials

EA readying cloud gaming technical trials
PC players will test cloud versions of FIFA, Titanfall, Need For Speed and Unravel

Electronic Arts is advancing its plans for cloud gaming with the first technical trial of its Project Atlas technology.

Announced last year, this is the publisher's cloud-native development platform and will not only enable players to stream games but also allow EA's developers to build games directly in the cloud.

Consumers are now able to join the EA Community Playtesting group for the chance to be included in an upcoming trial to gauge how games will play when delivered by this technology.

This trial will focus specifically on PC gaming, although in his Medium post CTO Ken Moss recognises that the goal is to deliver this experience across all devices, including mobile and smart TVs.

Four titles will be used in this trial -- FIFA 19, Titanfall 2, Need For Speed Rivals and Unravel -- in order to test the viability of streaming for a range of genres, including their single-player and multiplayer components.

Moss writes that the priority is to ensure EA can offer a good quality of service that adjusts to "real-world, often less than ideal" conditions, such as poor network strength or unstable bandwidth.

The publisher will also be testing the technical functionality of cross play, as it knows future users will want to play with their friends across multiple devices -- "a major step toward cloud gaming finally uniting platforms in play," says Moss.

"Cloud gaming is coming," Moss concludes. "It's no longer a question of if, but when. It's still really early days but we're excited to take this next step in our learning, and it's great to be able to do it with some of you in our community.

"This is about enhancing the quality of our games and services for a cloud-powered future.
 

LESS T_T

Arcane
Joined
Oct 5, 2012
Messages
13,582
Codex 2014
So now two dominant mobile platforms launched (non-streaming) subscription services.

Apple Arcade, $5 per month. A bunch of exclusives (many of them are exclusive on mobile platforms, basically no Android), seemingly more polished games.



Google Play Pass, also $5 per month. Currently US only. Apparently no exclusives, just library of existing games.



All these games don't feature common mobile monetization methods like in-app purchases. That's a point of doing this.

And this is probably bad.



So I wonder when a subscription service like these will come to Steam. (No not Humble Monthly, which you own the games indefinitely.)
 

DalekFlay

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New Vegas
All these games don't feature common mobile monetization methods like in-app purchases. That's a point of doing this.

And this is probably bad.

This shit is the future for good or ill, so it's definitely interesting how it will effect indies. Though I'm not sure they'll be any more fucked than they already are by the insanely flooded market we have now.
 

newtmonkey

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Goblin Lair
The moment the industry switches to streaming services only, is the moment I simply stop purchasing games. I know it's the future; it's clear we're heading into a future where we own absolutely nothing and have no consumer rights.

It's going to come to physical things too. These companies aren't investing heavily in the IoT to benefit us or make better products; it's so your refrigerator or TV can be disabled if you opt not to subscribe to an ongoing service fee.
 

Unkillable Cat

LEST WE FORGET
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Codex 2014 Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy
The moment the industry switches to streaming services only, is the moment I simply stop purchasing games. I know it's the future; it's clear we're heading into a future where we own absolutely nothing and have no consumer rights.

It's going to come to physical things too. These companies aren't investing heavily in the IoT to benefit us or make better products; it's so your refrigerator or TV can be disabled if you opt not to subscribe to an ongoing service fee.

You're not wrong, but you're not thinking this far enough. Why stop at something as harmless as having basic amenities be subscription-based?
 

LESS T_T

Arcane
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Oct 5, 2012
Messages
13,582
Codex 2014
Microsoft's xCloud thing: https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2019/09/24/project-xcloud-public-preview/

Project xCloud Public Preview: Help Us Shape the Future of Game Streaming

Our vision for Project xCloud is to empower the gamers of the world to play the games they want, with the people they want, anywhere they want. We’re building this technology so gamers can decide when and how they play. Customers around the world love the immersive content from Xbox in their homes and we want to bring that experience to all of your mobile devices.

Since announcing Project xCloud just under a year ago, we’ve been on a journey to create, develop, and prepare the technology for gamers. A big step for us was opening up the program to Microsoft employees – since then I’ve enjoyed seeing people’s excitement and hearing the stories of how they play. At home, I’ve been using Project xCloud to play Sea of Thieves with my kids while they’re playing on the console and PC. Around the office, I’ve seen our team having an amazing time playing Halo 5: Guardians tournaments and Gears 5 campaign on nothing more than a phone or tablet. We saw the same joy of gaming as we shared the experience with fans at E3 and gamescom, and now we’re ready for what’s next.

Today we’re inviting the community to take the next step with us and join the Project xCloud (Preview), coming this October to the United States, United Kingdom and Korea.

Public preview is a critical phase in our multi-year ambition to deliver game streaming globally at the scale and quality of experience that the gaming community deserves and expects. It’s time to put Project xCloud to the test in a broader capacity, with a range of gamers, devices, network environments and real-world use-case scenarios, and this is where you come in. At Xbox, we’ve made it a priority to engage with all of you to help in the creation process. We now want you to play with us and share your feedback on Project xCloud so we can iterate and improve, week after week. Join us, have fun playing, share your stories and feedback, and be part of the journey.

Here’s what to expect from the Project xCloud public preview and how you can register to participate:
  • If you’re in the US and UK, you can sign up to register today here, and if you’re in Korea, you can register here. We’ll begin to send invites in the coming weeks. With a goal of learning and improving quickly, we’re taking a phased approach to our public preview, starting with a small number of participants to get initial feedback, then opening it up to more and more gamers. If you don’t receive an invite right away, there will be other opportunities; we’ll continue to open up more spots over time.
  • Xbox launched with Halo, and so will the Project xCloud public preview. It will begin with Halo 5: Guardians, the all-new Gears 5, a fantastic fast-twitch fighter Killer Instinct, and the online adventure Sea of Thieves. This is just the beginning as our content library will continue to grow as the preview progresses.
  • There are a few requirements to participate in the Project xCloud preview. You’ll need a phone or tablet running Android 6.0 or higher with Bluetooth 4.0; a Microsoft account; a Bluetooth-enabled Xbox One Wireless Controller; and while not required, we recommend a phone mount for your controller. Project xCloud runs on Wi-Fi and mobile networks in your area.
  • You will be able to access content through our all-new Microsoft Game Streaming app, available in the coming weeks for Android devices. It’ll be available for all to download, but you’ll only be able to sign in once you’ve received an official invite into the preview.
Mobile networks are an important part of global connectivity today, so we’ll work hard to ensure that gamers have a great experience and Project xCloud is optimized for the widest range of network configurations possible. Earlier this month, we announced a partnership with SK Telecom to deliver Project xCloud to gamers in Korea. We’re also working with T-Mobile in the US and Vodafone in the UK during the preview to learn more about the way gamers play on mobile networks; these are technical partnerships that will help us optimize the experience, but gamers across all carriers are eligible to participate in the preview.

This is just the beginning. We’ll continue to improve, innovate, invite more of you in, add more content, and do it with the community in an open and transparent way. We can’t wait to hear your stories and share more at X019!


Project xCloud Preview FAQ

Q: How do gamers sign up for the Project xCloud trial?

A: Those in the United States and the United Kingdom who want to participate in the Project xCloud preview can sign-up here and if you’re in Korea, you can register here. You’ll complete an online registration form, which requests details such as your postal code, the make and model of your mobile device and your mobile network carrier. We’ll begin to send invites as we approach the October start date.

Q: If I register, when can I expect to be accepted into the Project xCloud preview?

A: During the preview, we will roll out invites to a limited number of participants and slowly increase the number of invitees over time. We ask for your patience while we expand availability.

Q: Will everyone make it into the preview?

A: We anticipate that demand will exceed our capacity during the preview period and that we will be unable to accommodate all applicants. However, it is our intention to accommodate as many eligible players as possible and we’ll continue to invite more gamers into the preview over time.

Q: Do I need to buy or own games for the Project xCloud Preview?

A: No. For the Project xCloud Preview, you do not need to buy or own any content. You will stream it directly from the cloud, which includes access to the list of games available during the preview period.

Q: Will you continue to add games throughout the preview?

A: Yes, we’ll add more content to the preview over time as we continue to analyze a wide range of player preferences, habits and scenarios.

Q: How long will the preview last?

A: The preview will continue until customers are consistently reporting a great, fun experience and the technology meets our internal quality standards. As is typical of our preview programs, we plan to begin with focused groups in the early stages for stability purposes and then to expand over time.

Q: Can I only participate in the Project xCloud preview if I have a contract with one of your partner carriers?

A: Gamers in the US and UK are eligible to participate in the Project xCloud preview regardless of carrier. In Korea, we’ll start the preview with a small number of SK Telecom customers and invite gamers from all carriers as we grow the preview.

For any additional questions, please visit Xbox.com/xbox-game-streaming.
 

DalekFlay

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The moment the industry switches to streaming services only, is the moment I simply stop purchasing games. I know it's the future; it's clear we're heading into a future where we own absolutely nothing and have no consumer rights.

Yeah, I don't plan to ever support it either. I'm sure many will roll their eyes and assume we're bullshitting, but I still haven't bought Diablo 3 because of the always online shit, so suck on that haters. Also I doubt "AAA" singleplayer games last much longer anyway.
 

LESS T_T

Arcane
Joined
Oct 5, 2012
Messages
13,582
Codex 2014
While Google is fumbling, Amazon, Microsoft, Sony, Valve, Verizon, Walmart (and possibly Nintendo) are busy preparing their own: https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/20...ng-2020-twitch-google-stadia-microsoft-xcloud

Amazon’s cloud gaming service could arrive next year and offer Twitch integration
2020 is shaping up to be a big year for cloud gaming


Google’s Stadia cloud gaming service launched on November 19th (and you probably shouldn’t buy into it just yet), but we’re already hearing more about Amazon’s rumored entry into the space. CNET reports that Amazon is planning to announce its own cloud gaming service next year. CNET’s story corroborates a January report from The Information, which first revealed the existence of the service and said that it likely wouldn’t launch until 2020 at the earliest.

Job listings have also given us some evidence that Amazon has a cloud gaming service on the way. The company has been hiring for a “new initiative” in its Amazon Web Services team (AWS underpins many cloud-based services you use every day) that, according to CNET’s sources, is involved with the new gaming service. One job posting found by CNET apparently says that Amazon plans to integrate the service with Twitch, which sounds similar to Google’s eventual plans for integrating Stadia and YouTube.

The Verge found a job listing that’s up right now for a “Principal Product Leader” for a “New AWS Gaming Initiative.” The listing doesn’t reveal any details about what the service might look like, but it does contain, uh, a pretty bold statement about Amazon’s gaming ambitions:

We believe the evolution that began with arcade communities a quarter at a time, growing to the live streams and e-sports of today, will continue to a future where everyone is a gamer and every gamer can create, compete, collaborate and connect with others at massive scales.​

After The Information’s original report in January, The Verge previously found two job listings for engineers that would work on “Cloud Games,” including one listing that explicitly mentioned some kind of new games business.

Though you may not think of Amazon as a gaming company, it makes some sense that it wants to make a cloud gaming service and that it understands the massive potential for such a service. AWS already powers much of the internet (including huge games like Fortnite), which means Amazon already has a massive amount of infrastructure and streaming know-how at its disposal that it could use to try to make a reliable cloud gaming service. Amazon also owns Twitch, an incredibly popular live-streaming service, which probably gives Amazon a lot of intel about the types of games people might spend hours playing every single day.

Amazon has experimented with cloud gaming before. Check out this video of a hybrid Amazon cloud game where you wield a giant crossbow that’s running on an Amazon Fire tablet to fight back hordes of enemies that are created by remote servers. The graphics look a little dated, but keep in mind that the game, made by Amazon’s own Amazon Game Studios, was released all the way back in 2014:



Five years later, perhaps Amazon feels the technology to power cloud gaming is in a good enough place to attempt to make a more comprehensive service.

Amazon and Google aren’t the only companies making a serious run at cloud gaming, of course. It’s quickly becoming a hot new battleground for tech companies, even if it’s not exactly a new idea. Early players Gaikai and OnLive were acquired by Sony to help it better power its PlayStation Now service, and Nvidia has been testing GeForce Now for years.

But now, more companies are jumping into the fray, and there soon could be a dizzying number of cloud gaming choices to pick from. Microsoft’s Project xCloud service, now in preview, has more than 50 games. EA held a two-week test of its Project Atlas cloud gaming service in September. Code on a Valve website mentions something called “Steam Cloud Gaming.” Nintendo has tested streaming games to the Switch in Japan. In January, The Verge reported that Verizon is testing Verizon Gaming on the Nvidia Shield. And even Walmart is apparently exploring its own cloud gaming service.

2020 is shaping up to be a big year for cloud gaming, and Amazon could be one of the big players.
 

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