Author: Michael Crider / Source: How-To Geek
The future of game streaming is an open road. But we already have some markets we can use to draw a map: online video streaming services. If we’re not careful, game streaming will hit the same speed bumps.
As Microsoft, Sony, NVIDIA, Google, and others start to ramp up their game streaming subscription services, we can already see what the biggest problem for gamers will be: an increasingly fragmented selection.
As platforms and consoles fight to get the biggest and best games on their streaming service, and only their streaming service, gamers will find that it’s impossible to play all the titles they want on just one of them. Not that this is anything new for the gaming industry, of course: it’s the good old-fashioned platform exclusivity problem, now spread out among more and more platforms.Streaming Looms On The Horizon
To be clear about our terms: the “game streaming” in this article refers to playing video games in your home over a broadband connection, where the actual hardware that hosts the game (the PC or game console doing the number-crunching) is on a server somewhere.
Current examples include PlayStation Now, which streams a selection of PS2, PS3, and PS4 games to either a regular PS4 or a program running on your computer, NVIDIA GeForce NOW, which can stream full-power PC games to either the NVIDIA SHIELD set-top box or PCs, and Google’s Project Stream, which used a single PC game in a test run earlier this year.
We’re not talking about streaming video of someone else playing a game that you watch on a service like YouTube or Twitch.
If you’re not familiar with it: game streaming is very cool. It enables someone with minimal hardware, like, say, a $200 SHIELD, to play games that are otherwise limited to a $1000 gaming PC. It doesn’t need local media or massive 50GB downloads, and a relatively small monthly charge can give you access to hundreds of games, a la the Netflix setup. Regarding pure hardware, the only real downer is that you need a solid broadband connection: most of these services recommend 25 Mbps, but I’ve found that they tend to stutter on anything less than 50.
With those pieces in place, the experience is pretty amazing. You can play games at maximum graphical settings with almost perfect sync, including the fastest multiplayer shooters or fighters. And it’s only going to get better and more available: Microsoft is heavily rumored to be developing a streaming-only version of the next Xbox console, the service of which would undoubtedly be available on Windows, too. Even Nintendo is dipping a toe in: the company is currently streaming some older titles to SHIELD owners in China. Predictably, Amazon is looking to get in on this action as well.
Here’s where the “but” comes in.
The Library Problem
Streaming video services are fighting tooth and nail to get original, exclusive content: Netflix’s has its high-profile Marvel series, conventional shows like Orange is the New Black, and even full theatrical movies like Bird Box. Hulu has exclusives like The Handmaid’s Tale and continuations like The Mindy Project. Amazon Prime video is home to shows like The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and The Man in the High Castle.
And all of that’s great! These services are becoming powerful production houses in their own right. But if you’re trying to watch one or more shows from each service, as many do…
The post Game Streaming Services Will Face The Same Problems As Streaming TV appeared first on FeedBox.