CONSOLATION
PRIZE
Console gaming numbers have always fluctuated
up and down, but home consoles do seem to be
steadily trending downward as the costs associated
with them increase. The peak of console gaming
occurred around the turn of the millennium, with
Sony’s PlayStation 2 smashing every record to
sell a whopping 150 million units. By comparison,
the PlayStation 4 has only sold around 95 million
units in the five-plus years since its release, while
the Xbox One barely managed a measly 39 million.
Nintendo dominated the handheld console market,
with the Nintendo DS managing to match PS2-tier
sales figures, and the Game Boy and Game Boy
Color before it both topping 100 million units sold.
The rise of gaming-ready smartphones has
hammered the handheld console market, though.
The strange home-handheld hybrid Nintendo
Switch has seen a modicum of success, but why
bring a bulky handheld console with you to play
Fortnite on your lunch break when you could just
do it on the phone that’s always in your pocket?
Home console sales aren’t exactly decreasing—
they vary significantly, spiking around Christmas
time every year—but they’re not rising either.
Sales rates held mostly steady last year for all
three major home consoles on offer right now (PS4,
Xbox One, and Switch).
Elsewhere, Valve reported an $800 million
rise in profits from Steam sales revenue in 2017,
while digital sales of home console games continue
to struggle—indicating, perhaps, that serious
gamers are slowly but surely making the switch
to PC gaming. Streaming solutions do offer a
potentially strong option for casual gamers; a
cheaper barrier to entry, less required hardware,
and no lengthy downloads or updates mean that
services like Stadia could provide a more accessible
way to play games—particularly if they expand on
to smartphones.Sony has never reached greater heights than the
PlayStation 2’s staggering sales figures.was the requirement of a PS Vita,
but in 2014, the software became
available for Sony smartphones and
tablets, too, followed by Windows
and MacOS.
SCALED DOWN
This technology works as a
microcosm of conventional cloud
gaming services like OnLive and
Stadia. In OnLive’s model, games
were run on a large remote server
base, which could theoretically run
any game, delivering high frame
rates and graphical quality. Remote
Play replaced the servers with the
consumer’s own PS4, which would
simply run the games as normal
while streaming video feedback
one way and controller input the
other, enabling near-seamless
switching between a mobile device
and the usual TV setup. Remote
Play is still available, but failed to
make a lasting impact. The next
step, then, was for Sony to deliver
its own PlayStation-branded cloud
gaming service: In 2014, the world
said hello to PS Now.
PS Now works much like OnLive
did: Using a PS4 (and later, PCs),
players can choose from a library
of over 700 PlayStation 2, 3, and 4
games to stream from Sony data
centers direct to their screens.
Latency issues still plague the
service, but it has performed well
enough for Sony to keep rolling it
out to new countries throughout
- OnLive’s acquisition by Sony
in 2015 saw its tech put to use in
improving the PS Now service.
Sony appears committed to
making the subscription-based
service work, and the library is ever-
expanding—although, tellingly, last
year saw Sony announcing that
some games would be available
for full download on to consumers’
PS4. This eliminated input latency
issues caused by streaming, but
removed the instant-play benefits
of fully streamed games. Still, PS
Now continues to expand, with new
games being added every month.LIKE AND SUBSCRIBE
Subscription-based gaming
platforms that allow downloading
local copies of games are nothing
new, either. PC gaming service
Utomik acts as a middle ground
between traditional user-
ownership and fully cloud-based
gaming. Rather than streaming
from a server, Utomik’s games are
partially downloaded to the PC,
with nifty technology that adapts to
the user’s Internet speed—with the
company promising zero lag and
buffering issues, regardless of your
bandwidth. In our tests, Utomik
proved speedier and cheaper than
normal purchased downloads,
but not quite as instantaneous as
cloud gaming. It works—games
are ready to play within seconds,
with no latency issues from data
streaming, though the need for
local hardware remains.
Utomik’s growth director,
Patrick Weekers, had his own
take on the Stadia announcement,
remarking that “it proves public
perception of subscription gaming
(and access versus ownership)
has evolved, which has caused
big tech companies to scrabble
for a share of the market.”
Weekers wasn’t overly impressed
with Stadia, though, calling it
“just another cloud streaming
announcement,” and commenting
that “the technology for a fullyRemote Pl ay wasn’t enough to s alvage the P S V ita’s s ales.
maximumpc.com JUN 2019 MAXIMUMPC 37