Throughout the years, we have seen groundbreaking developments in tech revolutionizing a wide range of industries, with the gaming industry being one of the biggest beneficiaries.
To take a quick trip through history, the gaming industry has been reshaped by technologies like the internet, 3D graphics, mobile gaming, virtual and augmented realities, and AI. Collectively, they have led to more immersive, interactive, and accessible gaming experiences.
In recent years, we’ve seen a rise in preference for a new way of gaming, known as cloud gaming. This type of gaming has made the widely preferred activity more diverse and affordable for gamers everywhere.
Cloud gaming has now taken over the hearts and minds of gamers across the globe, generating revenues of over $3 billion in 2022. To top that, these revenues are going nowhere but up since they’re projected to rise to $140 billion by 2032. These figures aren’t too surprising given a large collection of cloud-based gaming platforms like Nvidia GeForce Now Xbox Cloud Gaming, driven by high-end internet infrastructure such as fiber, cable, and satellite internet.
But what exactly is cloud gaming? And what does the growth of this form of gaming mean for traditional gaming consoles? Will they become obsolete, or will they continue to be preferred as a vintage form of gaming? This article aims to answer these questions by exploring:
- Cloud Gaming
- Gaming Consoles Vs. Cloud Gaming
- Internet Dependency
- Cloud Gaming – Essential Internet Requirements
- Recommended Internet Speed
- Recommended Latency Level
- Recommended Bandwidth
- Pros and Cons of Cloud Gaming
- Pros of Cloud Gaming
- Challenges and Limitations
- Will Cloud Gaming Eradicate Traditional Gaming Consoles?
What Is Cloud Gaming?
Cloud gaming, also known as gaming on demand or game streaming, is an easy and budget-friendly way to enjoy your favorite games remotely using the power of cloud computing.
In this form of gaming, distant servers known as clouds undertake the tasks of data processing and rendering and then stream the output to your chosen device. These devices can be anything you prefer, such as smartphones, tablets, computers, smart TVs, or even traditional gaming consoles.
By streaming video games directly from the servers, this technology makes gaming more accessible than ever and spares gamers the expense of constantly upgrading to expensive hardware.
Most cloud-based gaming platforms run on a game-as-a-service subscription model that allows gamers to enjoy a vast library of high-quality games wherever they are and on whichever device they own.
They don’t need to worry about storage space either since cloud-based gaming platforms work online and eliminate the need to download and install games on your device.
Below is a step-by-step breakdown of how cloud gaming works:
- Gamers choose their preferred device, like a personal computer or mobile phone.
- They choose and sign up for a cloud gaming service and pick the game they want to play.
- The cloud gaming platform starts the game, processes all the data, renders the visuals, and streams them to you over the internet each second.
- The controller processes player inputs and actions, which are then transmitted to the cloud gaming data center.
- The results of those actions are streamed back and appear on the device.
Many tech giants have made a name in cloud gaming; some of these include the ones below:
- Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (Best Overall)
- Nvidia GeForce Now (Best for Budget Conscious Gamers)
- PlayStation Plus Premium (Best for PlayStation Enthusiasts)
Now that you’re aware of what cloud gaming is and how it works let’s explore some of the aspects that make this form of gaming different from gaming consoles.
Gaming Consoles Vs. Cloud Gaming – The Key Differences
When talking about the major differences between cloud gaming and traditional gaming, five key aspects set them apart. Let’s take a look:
Areas of Focus
Cloud gaming relies on remote servers to process the game, which is then rendered and displayed on the gamer’s device. To support that, the aspects below must be set in place:
- Quality Backend Infrastructure: To support a large number of people who are gaming simultaneously, an optimized network, powerful servers, and load balancing are needed.
- Optimized Servers: to ensure a quality user experience free of issues like delays, drops, glitches, and more.
- Low Latency: to ensure an efficient and seamless response to the user’s input by the server.
Traditional gaming consoles optimize the game for a specific configuration and device using:
- Central Processing Unit (C.P.U.)
- Graphics Processing Unit (G.P.U.)
- User Device Memory
This ensures peak performance and helps create platform-specific versions of the game to allow cross-platform gaming.
Nature of Operations
Cloud gaming relies on high-performing servers built to handle processing and storage and improves gameplay through efficient data compression and transmission.
Traditional gaming relies on the features of the specific gaming device and requires additional hardware, such as high-end graphics cards and central processing units, to enhance performance.
Ease of Access and Cross-Platform Gaming
Cloud-based gaming platforms offer instant access to a huge library of games, making it unnecessary to download, continuously update, or buy additional storage. They also synchronize your progress, allowing you to continue where you left off across multiple devices.
Traditional gaming requires you to download, install, frequently update, and store the game on your device, which may need significant storage space. While you can game offline, picking up where you left off across various platforms is challenging.
Performance and Customization Options
Cloud-based gaming offers a seamless gameplay experience with high-end visual and sound effects. However, since the settings to ensure seamless gameplay are optimized on the server side, there are limited options for graphical customization.
You are free to customize graphics in traditional gaming. However, this is dependent on the capabilities of your graphics processing unit. Depending on its features and the settings available, you can customize it to improve the graphics, textures, or effects.
Game Availability
Cloud gaming works on a subscription-based gaming model, where you can access your favorite games as long as you have an active subscription on the cloud-based gaming platform of your choice. You do not need to tangibly own your favorite games to enjoy them.
In traditional gaming, however, you will either have to pay to download the game or buy a tangible form of it, like a CD.
Internet Dependency
Since cloud gaming requires the constant transfer of large amounts of data between servers and devices, a quality cloud gaming experience is highly contingent on having a high-speed and reliable internet connection.
Traditional gaming consoles do not require an internet connection to function, except when downloading the game.
It is important to note that cloud gaming has unique internet requirements, and the next section will explore them in detail to ensure you enjoy the best experience.
Cloud Gaming – Essential Internet Requirements
When talking about cloud gaming internet requirements, in addition to reliability, the main areas you should be focusing on are:
- Speed
- Latency
- Bandwidth
Let’s explore the requirements for each aspect in more detail.
Recommended Internet Speed for Cloud Gaming
Needless to say, the higher, the better. Generally, it would be useful to aim for internet plans with download speeds of at least 15 to 20 megabytes per second and upload speeds of at least 3 to 5 megabytes per second, as this can allow quick communication between the device and server.
Recommended Latency Level for Cloud Gaming
A latency as low as possible is what you should aim for. Even though anything below 100 milliseconds is considered decent, for a seamless and memorable cloud gaming experience, you should normally aim for anywhere within 20 to 40 milliseconds. A latency above 40 milliseconds can start to display occasional delays and unresponsiveness.
Recommended Bandwidth for Cloud Gaming
Bandwidth is the maximum amount of data your connection can handle, and this directly impacts the quality of your game stream. To support multiple devices, an internet plan with a higher bandwidth is recommended.
Matching the internet requirements above can allow for a great cloud gaming experience. Cloud gaming
Pros and Cons of Cloud Gaming
Let’s start things off on a positive note, exploring the benefits that cloud gaming allows, followed by the potential challenges.
Pros of Cloud Gaming
Ease of Access: Cloud-based gaming platforms allow players to enjoy a diverse range of games on a wide variety of devices that they are comfortable using, such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, personal computers, smart TVs, and even gaming consoles. This makes gaming from anywhere with an internet connection possible.
Cost-Effectiveness: Cloud gaming is a great option for budget-conscious gamers since it allows them to steer clear of spending large amounts on top-tier dedicated hardware like gaming consoles and personal computers. The only things they need to pay for are an Internet plan and the subscription fee for the cloud-based gaming platforms.
Saving Storage Space: Traditional gaming requires gamers to download and install large game files on their devices, which would take up a massive amount of space and impact the performance of their devices. Cloud gaming, on the other hand, allows video games to be streamed from remote servers, eliminating the need to download and install large game files and freeing up storage space on devices.
Cross-Platform Gaming: Cloud-based gaming platforms like Nvidia GeForce Now, Xbox Cloud Gaming, Google Stadia (now discontinued), and Amazon Luna, to name a few, allow players to pick up where they left off even if they log in from another device. Cross-platform gaming further enriches the experience for cloud gamers by allowing them to play games with friends on different devices.
Constant Updates: Traditional gaming consoles used to become outdated quickly and often required hardware upgrades to play the latest games. Cloud gaming spares gamers this expense by providing a large library of games backed by frequently updated cloud servers.
Now, to the dark side of the moon!
Challenges and Limitations of Cloud Gaming
Uninterrupted Internet Connectivity: Due to a large amount of data being shared in real-time, cloud-based gaming platforms need a reliable and high-speed internet connection to deliver the best experience. A slow and unstable connection can lead to issues like low-quality graphics, slow buffering, and high latency in cloud gaming, all of which lead to a poor gaming experience.
Data Caps and Bandwidth Limits: Streaming video games in high definition can consume data much faster compared to streaming standard-definition videos or listening to music online. This can impact the experience of people relying on an internet plan that comes with a data cap or limited bandwidth, as it may require extra charges or result in slower speeds.
Unavailability of Certain Games: While cloud-based gaming platforms offer a large range of games from all genres for people to enjoy, you are limited to playing what you see. There may be certain times when the games you’re looking to play aren’t available on the platform due to licensing agreements and publisher restrictions.
Lack of Direct Ownership: Since you’re only using the cloud-based gaming platform as a paying subscriber, you do not own the assets. If your chosen cloud-based gaming platform decides to remove a game you’ve been playing or shut down its operations, you lose your progress and can’t really do much about it.
Input Lag and Performance Concerns: The slightest level of latency in cloud gaming can hugely impact gameplay, as it can lead to unresponsiveness. Installed games are generally more responsive, as they can be played without an internet connection.
The Verdict – Will Cloud Gaming Eradicate Traditional Gaming Consoles?
Despite the promising benefits, cloud gaming has its fair share of challenges as well. Considering these aspects, it is highly unlikely that cloud gaming will entirely bury gaming consoles since many old-school gamers like myself still prefer gaming consoles due to their lack of dependency on the internet.
What we can expect is a hybrid model where gaming consoles begin to harness the power of cloud gaming technologies. This is evident when tech giants like Sony and Microsoft update their gaming consoles with cloud gaming features.
The future for both forms of gaming is bright. With technologies like 6G connectivity on the horizon, we can expect them to deliver more immersive and accessible gaming experiences supported by faster speeds and a lower latency.
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