Support NeoGAF

[Gamer79]

People scoff at the idea but lets consider some real factors:

-X part of the world does not have reliable internet: Thats not going to change for the foreseeable future. There are lots of places in the world that still does not have running water or electricity. That is much less of a problem today.
-If it shuts down I lose my games!: That is true with all digital Downloads from Sony, Nintendo, Xbox, etc. If they decided to pull a game it can no longer become available.
-It sucks! Some did it better than others. Nvidia's Geforce Now seems to be the best of the bunch. Many of their games you cannot tell it's cloud hosted.

There are other arguments but as technology advances, things like Jitter, lag, and other network issues become less of an issue. I am an advocate for physical copies but it is becoming less of an option these days. Either Cloud Gaming or Digital Downloads like on PSN it is till the same concept. You do not own the games and the companies can choose to stop supporting a game at their whim.

I could see a situation where this could benefit gamers. As hardware prices increase, and scalping becomes more and more an issue, a simple box you pay $50 to access the servers could solve this. Hell Xbox could sell their xbox live service or geforce now could offer their services.

 

[Spyxos]

Since I play less and less Mp games and in singleplayer games where the difference is almost no longer noticeable I would not mind. But they should focus on the game selection and the high prices.

 

[nowhat]

Short answer: no.
Long answer: noooooooooooooo.

Unless you happen to live next to a data center, there's just no getting around the added latency. You can't break the laws of physics, and they currently say "c" is a constant.

 

[GermanZepp]

Yes when the Internet became free for all the people in the world with one chillón gb speed

 

[Parazels]

No, because people love owning real things, even if these things depend on internet.

 

[Miyazaki’s Slave]

I can stream my PS5 from a shitty hotel room connection with no issues.

I can access my entire Steam library using my own streaming setup, or (a large portion of it) with GeForce now.

Cloud gaming is already here, it’s growing, and spatial computing adoption will accelerate the need/use for it.

 

[rodrigolfp]

Define "serious".

Geforce Now, maybe, already is.

 

[bitbydeath]

No.
It’s already here and nobody cares.

 

[mansoor1980]

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

Only a matter of time. Probably not as fast as some think.

 

[mitch1971]

When there is no other option, yes it will - Sun Tzu

 

[SEGAvangelist]

Let's do a poll!

 

[jshackles]

 

[Fbh]

The biggest hurdle will be if they can get it to work well in most major markets in a way that's reliable and repeatable.
If they can actually get it to work well and assure that you'll have a good experience regardless of where you live, which i still doubt, I could see it becoming a serious platform.
Convenience is a very strong seller.

 

[namenotfound]

I thought it was already a serious platform with Geforce Now. I remember visiting family and my little niece was happily playing games off PS+ Cloud. Then I subbed a month recently to PS+ Premium to try and it's solid. I tried Luna and it's solid but small library of games I'd be interested in. Main issue for Geforce Now seems to be that it's getting popular enough that they're starting to monetize the hours more and the free tier time queues getting longer and longer. Look at the Geforce Now sub page

GeForce NOW Membership

Upgrade to Ultimate today.

www.nvidia.com

1 month plans. No slots left for new users free to ultimate. 6 month memberships, only Ultimate tier is available

 

[TehGoomba7s]

Until it has 0 latency then no. Fortunately, we have a product available to us that want a responsive experience. It's called console/pc gaming.

 

[diffusionx]

No, never.

 

[Kacho]

Not for enthusiasts who are the ones buying lots of games.

 

[rodrigolfp]

Until it has 0 latency then no. Fortunately, we have a product available to us that want a responsive experience. It's called console/pc gaming.

That is not how things work. Geforce Now already can have far better latency than consoles and even some PCs.

 

[Killjoy-NL]

No

 

[FoxMcChief]

Yes, and you will all be dragged kicking and screaming, while the vast majority of casuals push for it.

 

[RiccochetJ]

I think it could be like phone gaming which completely dwarfs console and PC.

 

[dano1]

If it can be done with better graphics and less lag sure.
But I doubt it could. Plus it would probably kill the internet if everyone played that way.

 

[pasterpl]

For me it is already. I use xcloud on regular basis.

 

[A.Romero]

Personally, I think Cloud gaming will become the norm at some point in the future maybe beaten only by local PC gaming and portable gaming (Switch, Steam Deck, etc).

As with everything there are early adopters that will jump into stuff like this even when tech is not quite there and on the other side of the curve there are the laggards that won't let go of the old ways until there is no other option.

I used to care but not anymore. If cloud gaming becomes the norm, I think I'd be OK about it. Tech can only improve, fast Internet connections are becoming more and more common and not too far into the future they will be the norm as well.

That doesn't mean I'm ready to burn my devices and discs, it's just that it wouldn't bother me that much. If possible, I would play most stuff on cloud and special stuff locally, just like I do with video streaming services and 4K blurays.

 

[jburdick7]

I don’t really see it working as a gaming platform, most older gamers won’t accept it so like microtransactions you’d have to start by getting kids to accept it. The thing is I don’t see a lot of parents willing to shell out for games they don’t own and are streaming.

That said it is wonderful for local streaming and I hope that’s where the tech gets applied the most. Apollo + Moonlight works so well for me I’ve rack mounted my gaming rig in the garage with my NAS and just stream to the tvs around my house and a client I’ve got connected to my monitor when I want to game or use windows for something.

 

[dottme]

With the netwrork limit, plus data cap I have. Forget about it.

 

[Sinfulgore]

It can if it these companies understand who the target audience is. Cloud gaming's target audience is casuals, people who overhear their coworkers talking about Marvel rivals and want to join in. Someone who sees an ad for a popular game on youtube wants to jump in by just clicking a link. Cloud gaming needs to be as simple as Netflix is for it to be a serious platform.

 

[TehGoomba7s]

That is not how things work. Geforce Now already can have far better latency than consoles and even some PCs.

I've yet to play a game on GeForce Now that comes anywhere close to my PS5 or PC latency wise. Visually looks a small touch below but to play just feels bad. I don't think its an Internet issue because I pay for a 1GB package and get that on DL and 250-300mb on upload.

 

[ANIMAL1975]

When i was a kid phones with no wires was a thing from the science fiction movies and tv series, like

Mind-blowing i tell ya

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

I was one of the higher ups on the business side of a cloud platform for several years. While cloud gaming is obviously not there yet, I do see a world where it’s good enough for most people, which becomes more relevant in developing countries. I don’t think it’ll ever be particularly valuable to the providers, though. If you’re in civilization… yeah, you’re buying games at $60 a pop and you likely don’t have any reason to use cloud gaming outside of edge cases. You can afford a real piece of hardware, and - probably more importantly - your pc and phone are probably already good enough for most stuff you want to play.

When you get to countries like Brazil, consoles are like a mortgage payment, but I don’t think that pushes people to cloud, I think it pushes them to PC. What’s potentially interesting in those areas is subscription services for games rather than buying them outright. Their real issue isn’t access - they have a good enough solution.

If you live in a shithole country like I dunno… Chad or something, I’m sure cloud gaming would be great. Assuming starlink pans out and your corrupt government doesn’t torpedo everything. But with what those countries can afford to pay for cloud gaming, is it really valuable to the platforms? Probably not. It's an expensive business to be in - server costs are no joke, and that's something that hasn't been mitigated in the slightest after years of effort.

I'd offer a more nuanced take, but I'm typing on my phone on a plane and I'm a little drunk. The point is, cloud gaming will likely have some value for a small subset of users in developing nations, but will likely not be a large enough market to justify for the platformholders.

 

[rodrigolfp]

I've yet to play a game on GeForce Now that comes anywhere close to my PS5 or PC latency wise. Visually looks a small touch below but to play just feels bad. I don't think its an Internet issue because I pay for a 1GB package and get that on DL and 250-300mb on upload.

Depends on your distance from the server.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

No one gives a fuck about cloud gaming. We have phones, tablets, Switch, consoles, PC's, there's a million ways to play games which don't require you to stand next to a server farm and stream a video of a game being played to your device

 

[RafterXL]

No, anyone telling you otherwise is blowing smoke, just like VR gaming. It is a niche and will always be a niche.

 

[Hero of Spielberg]

When it gets to the point where the difference in graphics and latency between that and local is negligible then it will. There’s no reason for it not too. Would be like asking the majority of people if they prefer buying cd’s over streaming on Spotify.

 

[kevboard]

no. because it's awful and always will be awful.

it also will become less and less relevant as more and more devices that people own will be powerful enough to play most games natively.

hardware power of stationary systems like consoles and PCs is plateauing, while the hardware power of mobile hardware is catching up.

the moment your phone is powerful enough to play local ports of any AAA game, cloud gaming is basically dead because it lost its last relevant usecase.

 

[Xtib81]

I wish, like GeForce now. Allow me to play with the settings cranked to the max. I don't mind the added latency.

 

[Danjin44]

 

[Zacfoldor]

Nope, and I'm dead serious.

Think I'm dumb? I love it when that happens.

 

[Minsc]

I thought it was already a serious platform with Geforce Now. I remember visiting family and my little niece was happily playing games off PS+ Cloud. Then I subbed a month recently to PS+ Premium to try and it's solid. I tried Luna and it's solid but small library of games I'd be interested in. Main issue for Geforce Now seems to be that it's getting popular enough that they're starting to monetize the hours more and the free tier time queues getting longer and longer. Look at the Geforce Now sub page

GeForce NOW Membership

Upgrade to Ultimate today.

www.nvidia.com

1 month plans. No slots left for new users free to ultimate. 6 month memberships, only Ultimate tier is available

From what I've read they haven't taken any new memberships in the past two months because their third party payment company digital river went bankrupt and shut down and they're transitioning to internal payment servers. They put out an announcement saying it'll take ~3 months and there's about a month left still.

 

[Saber]

No.

Even the actual casuals care about their games responding to their controller imputs, regardless of they knowing or not the explanation for that.

 

[Guardian Monkey]

Absofuckinglutely

 

[fart town usa]

I can stream my PS5 from a shitty hotel room connection with no issues.

I can access my entire Steam library using my own streaming setup, or (a large portion of it) with GeForce now.

Cloud gaming is already here, it’s growing, and spatial computing adoption will accelerate the need/use for it.

Yea, I don't know why people act like the latency makes stuff unplayable. I've tested PS+ cloud with PS3 titles and they play fine compared to the same game on my actual PS3. Visually they are locked to 720p, so that sucks, but it makes sense considering its the PS3.

I also play the Portal all time and that's fine as well.

Internet speed is obviously a factor and I don't want to see cloud as the only option, but it is a viable option all the same. Lots of dirty haters on Gaf. Really bizarre.

 

[Schmick]

no. because it's awful and always will be awful.

it also will become less and less relevant as more and more devices that people own will be powerful enough to play most games natively.

hardware power of stationary systems like consoles and PCs is plateauing, while the hardware power of mobile hardware is catching up.

the moment your phone is powerful enough to play local ports of any AAA game, cloud gaming is basically dead because it lost its last relevant usecase.

It's not awful. Works pretty damn well as a GeForce Now Ultimate user and I use all my devices to play it. PC, Laptop, Tablet and phone. Means I can play games such as Cyperpunk2077 at max settings with Path Tracing. Not sure we'll see a phone capable of doing that natively any time soon.

 

[ReyBrujo]

Absolutely no doubt about that.

 

[vodka-bull]

It happened to movies, it‘ll eventually happen to games. PC games are already digital only for most games.

 

[namenotfound]

From what I've read they haven't taken any new memberships in the past two months because their third party payment company digital river went bankrupt and shut down and they're transitioning to internal payment servers. They put out an announcement saying it'll take ~3 months and there's about a month left still.

Ya I saw that. I took a 6 month special deal some time ago and it looks like payments are back. I'm getting a couple months extra Ultimate because of this payment processor transition

 

[Starbuck2907]

I’d say it already is a serious platform and it’s growing a lot.

I find that it’s very good for trying games out without having to download 100 gigs and very good for playing in tvs and mobile devices where no dedicated console or pc is available. It’s basically very complementary to traditional gaming without being a true replacement.

 

[reinking]

Good enough to be niche? Yes. Serious enough to take over local play? No. I am basing this on the lack of enthusiasm. Some are going to point to TV, movie and music streaming but I remember there was early support by much larger groups than what I am seeing for video game streaming. That could be because so many more people listen to music and watch TV but having a larger base of early adopters helped push those services toward the masses. Game streaming IMO feels like "me too" more than a natural progression. Am I remembering wrong, or was game streaming made fun of early on? Seemed like Onlive and others were pretty much doomed from the start by media and gamers. IMO, streaming video games will be a lot like the early days. Good to try and rent games but it will always fall short of playing on local hardware.

 

[kevboard]

It's not awful. Works pretty damn well as a GeForce Now Ultimate user and I use all my devices to play it. PC, Laptop, Tablet and phone. Means I can play games such as Cyperpunk2077 at max settings with Path Tracing. Not sure we'll see a phone capable of doing that natively any time soon.

well we already have new laptop APUs that can compete with mid range PCs.
onboard graphics in the past were always useless for proper gaming, this has changed in the last few years.

Apple's M chips also steadily improve GPU and CPU power while drawing extremely low amounts of power.

game graphics are barely improving anymore and are almost entirely limited by budget now. this previously happened with movies within the 2010s. CGI in movies absolutely plateaued because they hit a hard limit that is entirely dependent on the budget, because the hardware can already basically do anything anyone would ever want.
we will soon reach a point in gaming where new hardware will have such tiny incremental improvements, that the mobile hardware that is catching up with it will be able to run games at very similar quality.

this plateauing of graphics quality will also mean that eventually low end and high end PC hardware will have increasingly similar looking graphics quality. especially with the increasing capabilities of AI reconstruction to close the gap.

I'm not saying that this will happen in 2 or 3 years, but absolutely by the end of the next decade.
and that's not even taking into account that the majority of people don't care about graphics quality and would have no issue playing low settings.