Technolog
Cloud gamin
August 2019 | |^59
Consolation prize
Console gaming numbers have always
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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
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managed a measly 39 million. Nintendo
dominated the handheld console market,
with the Nintendo DS managing to match
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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
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Christmas time every year – but they’re
not rising either. Sales rates held mostly
steady last year for all three major home
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Elsewhere, Valve reported an $800
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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
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on to smartphones.
Sony has never reached greater heights than the
PlayStation 2’s staggering sales figures.stumbling block 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 fully streamed solution justRemote Play wasn’t enough to salvage the PS Vita’s sales.