How Progressive is the Gaming Industry When it Comes to the Cloud?
While cloud computing has revolutionized the IT segment as a whole, the gaming industry specifically has reaped enormous benefits from innovative cloud technology. High scalability and low latency are the two important requirements for gaming. As the cloud offers highly scalable solutions with lower levels of latency, the gaming industry has quickly embraced this innovation, and the future of the sector definitely lies in the cloud.
The most recent E3 Expo, which would normally showcase innovation in gaming hardware, ended up offering nothing significant to gamers. The absence of new consoles underscores that the industry is looking at fully utilizing the resources of the cloud. Also significant in the cloud gaming segment is the acquisition of Gaikai by Sony. Gaikai has been a pioneer in the cloud gaming, and the acquisition will allow Sony to tap into that as well.
Another key player is Microsoft. And to add cloud-based power to its Xbox infrastructure, the company is recruiting some of the former staff of OnLive, one of the leading companies that made cloud gaming a reality. After Sony’s acquisition of Gaikai, many people felt that Microsoft would counter by acquiring OnLive and adding its services to its Xbox 720. However, this acquisition did not materialize.
Why is everyone moving to the cloud?
There are several advantages of cloud-based gaming services. For instance, competitive prices offered by the OnLive cloud gaming site enable users to enjoy amazing games. Users need not download 10GB of data before playing a game, but can simple save the game and access it again from another computer. They can buy daily passes or monthly subscriptions to play hundreds of titles. The automatic scaling feature augmented with low latency makes cloud games the ultimate choice for gaming lovers. All this is not possible with a traditional gaming setup.
Cloud gaming concerns
Current gaming infrastructure is not efficient enough to provide a rich gaming experience to users. However, gaming technology is changing gears. The new GeForce grid processor from Nvidia is specifically designed to improve the performance of cloud games. It combines the power of GPU virtualization and low-latency to provide the best platform for game developers.
Another important concern for the cloud gaming sector is speed. Every gamer does not have the required high speed broadband network to enjoy live streaming of audio and video. However rapid advancement in telecommunication is sure to deliver high speed internet connections to everyone soon.
On the developer’s end – pertinent to scalability and low-latency features – they will need a reliable infrastructure partner, especially in key areas like security, fault tolerance, and support. To gain a better idea of these concepts, check out GMO Cloud’s High Availability Features section.
The amazing benefits of cloud computing technologies offer a perfect platform for game developers to unleash their creativity. With changing technologies, it is important to stay ahead of the competition.
Cloud-based gaming services are definitely the future of the gaming industry.
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About the Guest Author:
Kaushik Das is an engineer, research analyst and a technical writer in the areas wireless, IT, enterprise software, next-generation hosting, storage and renewable energy. He specializes in competitive analysis, market research, industry insights, white paper and actionable web content development.
