CLOUD GAMING

CLOUD GAMING SERVICES

Entry into the gaming industry requires that you part with a significant amount of money and the prices adjust over time, depending on the product’s status on the market. Take an example of getting an Xbox One S. In this case, you should expect to part with at least two hundred dollars to have your way, and the prices are thus prohibitive. The PC gaming world tends to be more flexible but with the coming of cryptocurrency, prices have tripled over time and what you could easily have spent five hundred dollars on now costs three times that price.

For users who are ready and able to invest in gaming systems, there are tons of benefits such as high-quality graphics and no latency. However, if you do not have the capital or willingness to do so yet, then the whole venture would be pointless. At other times, people are looking to test the waters before going in, or they want to enjoy games on their laptops on the go. In such cases where you wish to do away with the huge capital outlays and infrastructure, then cloud gaming becomes the ideal option.

Cloud gaming

People often refer to this service as GaaS (Gaming as a service). It is a new way of playing games that companies and users are quickly embracing owing to its many benefits. In traditional gaming, you require a PC or console to enjoy a game, and as such, there is a significant amount of money needed for the process. In cloud gaming, the game runs on servers under the control of gaming services, thus doing away with the need for infrastructure on your part.

Users log into clients through their computers, and they then set controls using their gamepads, mouse or keyboard. The server then receives the instructions and streams a video of the gameplay to the users. It is more of Netflix than it is online gaming in this regard. Years ago, advancements such as these would have been pretty hard. To start with, setting up and operating servers that were strong enough to efficiently handle such processes would have cost a lot of money. Streaming videos would also have taken up a lot of bandwidth, and a delay between input and streaming videos would have made the experience uninteresting to users.

However, with the development of technology and stable internet connections to go with it, users can now enjoy playing games on cloud-based computers at fast speeds, and this has thus led to the popularity of this system.

GaaS

This term could mean two things, depending on the manner in which it gets used. The first explanation is the emerging technology which enables users to bypass capital outlays in the beginning and to have easy access to games. The second meaning is a business model where video game publishers allow people to pay a low price to get hold of a game. The catch to this model though is that users continue paying for services such as loot boxes and DLC long after they bought the game and they thus, end up paying more than the game’s worth.

Gaming in the cloud has many benefits for its users, but it also has some shortcomings, one being latency. While it is true that latency in this gaming mode is low to the point where users can enjoy playing games at fast speeds, it is not as low as what you would get with your setup in place. There are cloud gaming providers who provide you with some online tests to help you gauge how much latency you should expect during gameplay. The other downside is that videos undergo compression before they get streamed to you. As such, where you have low internet speeds, the process will take longer to finish, and this can thus hamper your experience. In this respect, you should look for a gaming service that offers extra bandwidth as this will positively affect your gaming experience.

Cloud Gaming: Yes Or No?

There are some compromises that you have to make when choosing this route. However, you stand to gain a lot from it. For one, it is much cheaper than investing in a gaming system. Take an example of a gaming PC system where you have the opportunity to pay it off in four years. This payment option brings the costs to over twenty dollars per month without factoring expenses related to the purchase of games. In the instance of cloud gaming, you will find many providers willing to have you use their services at only ten dollars a month.

Another thing about gaming systems is that you require upgrading your hardware over time and this drives the costs up as opposed to cloud gaming where users are not subject to such expenses. You can also game from anywhere, owing to the lightweight gaming power offered by cloud gaming services and this enables people to play games across multiple devices. There are companies which offer users an array of compatible games as part of the subscription plan and as such, you can do away with having to purchase titles. Some of the best services in this regard are Vortex, GeForce Now, PlayStation Now, Shadow and Liquid Sky.

There is a lot of potential for cloud gaming. As the streaming quality improves over time, so will the gaming experience. As such, investing in cloud gaming is an excellent idea for users and companies across the globe.