The gaming industry has seen plenty of innovations in the last few years; from AR (augmented reality) to VR (virtual reality), the space is not shy of attempting to bring interesting concepts to reality.
Perhaps one of the more interesting leaps that were attempted was cloud gaming. Although it didn’t take off as much as people thought it would, it still left a mark on the industry and taught us a few valuable lessons. In this article, we will be taking a look at what exactly cloud gaming is, what its strengths and weaknesses are, and whether or not a decentralized computing power-providing platform like ComputeCoin could one day support it.
What Is Cloud Gaming?
Cloud gaming is streaming a video game as one would stream movies or music. The game would be processed on the service provider’s computer and is then streamed to the monitor of the end-user.
Depending on the provider, a player would have to purchase each game individually or subscribe to the entire library of games on a monthly basis, similar to how one would subscribe to that of Netflix or Amazon Prime.
Where Does It Succeed?
Such a service is very cost-effective; where a high-end PC would cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars, users can experience the same graphical outputs for a tiny fraction of that price per month. For a short-term affair, users may want to use cloud gaming to avoid spending lots of money on something they’re not sure they’ll always use, or even afford it in some cases.
Cloud gaming also helps avoid minor inconveniences that get in the way of players, such as device cooling/heating for example. Intense gaming sessions would tax one’s PC, causing the heat to rise in its components, which would require cooling to maintain performance.
Why Didn’t It Take Off?
Some may remember the Google Stadia - Google’s very own cloud gaming service that was marketed and hyped relentlessly before its release. While there are reasons specific to the Stadia, there are fundamental flaws and challenges with cloud gaming that no doubt contributed to its failure.
The biggest problem with cloud gaming is internet usage. Since users will be gaming in high definition, they will be needing a very fast internet that is capable of delivering a smooth and seamless gaming experience. Furthermore, such intense streaming would use far more data than internet service providers would like, which could cause some issues down the line.
Gamers were also not a fan of not being able to own the games they were streaming, as those games could one day be removed from the overall library, which could leave many players unsatisfied. The ability to own and collect games is an important part of gaming culture, and subscription-based approaches like these may not sit right with them.
Will There Ever Be A Decentralized Cloud Gaming Service?
Given how the web is increasingly becoming more and more decentralized, such a service is rather inevitable and is just a matter of time. As for ComputeCoin, this certainly falls in our domain and aligns with our visions and principles of delivering cloud-computing power through a decentralized network.
ComputeCoin is committed to building the cornerstone of the Metaverse, and to enable and facilitate its accessibility, as well as its processing capabilities. Once this is accomplished and all laid out, the possibilities that loom on the horizon are endless.