Cloud gaming is a form of online gaming. There are basically two types of cloud gaming, one which is based on streaming video and the other based on file streaming. This relatively new way of gaming offers the player seamless play across multiple devices. However, there is more to it than just that and if one looks more closely, cloud gaming can be considered the future as a result of variety of benefits. This is even more the case when considering its adaptability across all spheres of gaming, which range from the usual online video games from Sony to online casino games offered at Unibet.
More competition
Sony and Microsoft currently charge 30% to developers for games to be released on their platforms. That’s a hefty amount for a title with a reputable brand that games are waiting for. The emergence of cloud gaming gives the consumer more choice and will put pressure on the traditional goliaths of gaming to remain competitive, giving value to the developers and customers. The availability of games on the cloud requires the big brands to be more competitive; no longer will it be a race for them between Xbox and Playstation, a new competitor can enter the market and release a product on the cloud.
Value for the gamer
Playstation Network now lets subscribers play an extensive range of games without purchasing titles individually. Cloud gaming introduces the same concept for us. We don’t need to own a vast catalogue of games. We are not limited to games on our shelves or using our hard drive storage. Thousands of games are there, waiting for us to play, accessible in seconds. As we’ve seen in other industries; no more whizzing through TV guides, the old DVDs, searching over the Internet or strolling through the CDs and Vinyls in the old music collection. We can now watch/listen to what we want when we want with Netflix and Spotify, and this concept will revolutionise traditional gaming with cloud gaming. Â
No Piracy
With cloud gaming, physical gaming software isn’t available, and the games are played on the cloud servers. This means the chances of the games being pirated are near impossible at the moment, and should cloud gaming capitalise on the Netflix and Spotify models, we will see piracy across the industry reduced massively, as we’ve seen in the video and music industry.
Availability of More Devices
One limitation of gaming previous has been, if you have the game on that console, you’re stuck with. Xbox live gamers are exclusively gaming against others on the same platform. The introduction of cloud gaming eliminates the limitations of console gaming as we know it.  Cloud gaming allows the use of multiple devices. We can now use smartphones and laptops to play games traditionally enjoyed on first and second generation consoles. Grant Theft Auto Games, that we are used to on the tradition games consoles, can now be easily accessed on any Android and Apple phone. This is a sign of how in the future, we will see games traditionally enjoyed on classic consoles readily available on a wide range of devices.
Hardware limitations out of the window
Remember when you couldn’t buy the latest PC game because you didn’t have the latest graphics card, or your PC didn’t hold enough RAM? Not any longer. Hardware is now available which compresses video, lowers bandwidth costs and accesses a GPU in the cloud, all meaning that games with top of the range graphics can be enjoyed low powered hardwire, like the Raspberry Pi, which configured can stream many of the latest titles, and it is only a sign of things to come.
