While cloud gaming is impressive from a technological standpoint, it’s yet to really take off on any available platforms, with many in the gaming world brushing it off as a new, quirky trend. However, according to a new report released today from a significant and respected market researcher firm called Strategy Analytics, cloud gaming could rise significantly by the end of 2015.
Specifically, the report claims that the audience for streaming services such as Sony’s Playstation Now, or Nvidia’s Grid Game Streaming has potential to rise cloud gaming from a current audience of thirty million, to a potential one hundred and fifty million users. The report adds that while the concept has struggled on platforms such as OnLive, the overall number of cloud-capable devices is steadily increasing due to rising tablet sales and the currently softened prices of the PS4.
Many may ask what the appeal of cloud gaming is, in brief, cloud gaming provides a way to play titles that you normally couldn’t play on devices due to hardware limitations. Not only does this allow new, high end games to be played on tablets that don’t have the appropriate graphical capacity, this would also allow backwards compatibility for consoles like the PS4, which currently isn’t capable of playing PS3, PS2 or PSX games in the base hardware.
Michael Goodman – a director of Strategy Analytics had this to say in a statement, “2014 is proving to be a watershed moment with major players putting their credibility and brand names on the line to make cloud gaming work. While broadband speeds and consumer acceptance of subscription models have come a long way, access to content remains an issue for all services.” He adds, “The major video game publishers have so far successfully managed an incremental transition from physical to digital media, but cloud gaming offers publishers a new revenue stream.”
While the available platforms are increasing and the technology is becoming more stable, there are still many kinks that need to be ironed out if cloud gaming is to be a huge success. The price would have to be reasonable to keep gamers subscribed as many beta tasters complained about the absurd pricing of Sony’s Playstation Now, while a large, up-to-date selection of playable titles would need to be introduced to keep prolonged interest in any service. As for whether the report is accurate, we’ll just have to wait and see.