Will cloud gaming kill consoles? If you’re wondering what the future is for gaming, rest assured it will likely not be a physical console in your home. With new technologies and streaming services emerging faster and faster than before, consoles are sure to become the past and go the dinosaur’s way. But how soon will it be? And will cloud gaming kill consoles for good?
To understand what cloud gaming is and compare it to console gaming, we need to Define each and truly understand each gaming platform’s strengths and weaknesses.
In this article, I will discuss cloud gaming and console gaming, the differences between where each came from, and where it looks like each is going in the future.
Cloud Gaming Basics
The essence of cloud gaming is the idea that you are playing the game with nothing more than a controller of some type on your end. All of the games process calculations and so forth find completion on the server side.
Cloud gaming platforms’ benefits are that they reduce the need for bulky and expensive hardware in gamers’ homes. It also allows for a mobile gaming experience where Gamers can play their games from multiple platforms and various locations and provide a similar and seamless gaming experience. A gamer’s ability to play a game in real-time and save it, and then switch platforms to a different type of equipment and start the same game back up in the same place they left off is fantastic compared to being locked into a hard-wired gaming console.
So the essence of cloud gaming is elementary using your phone or television and a controller. One can play video games online in a real-time multiplayer setting and single-player settings or location-based multiplayer settings. These multiple game types and play location abilities allow cloud gaming to vastly increase gamers’ ability to play on various platforms and play together in real time without needing expensive Hardware.
What Hardware Is Needed For Cloud Gaming
Please note that Google Stadia is officially dead. There are even some refunds going out, apparently.
The equipment needed is straightforward if you’re talking about a cloud gaming experience like Google stadia Xbox or even Nvidia.
- Television
- Internet Connection
- Connection Device
- Controller
The intangible items that are required include an internet connection and an Xbox Game Pass, Nvidia GeForce Now, or other subscriptions.
The beautiful thing about a cloud-based system like Nvidia GeForce Now is that you are only limited by your internet connection and the device that you get to link the controller and the gaming experience to your television.
In a sense requiring the connection device is sort of like having a mini console of its own. Of course, the difference is that most are similar to an Android box because it is not a controller. It is merely a player that allows for streaming online services like Netflix, Amazon, YouTube, and Google Stadia for gaming.
The Death Of The Game Console? Will Cloud Gaming Kill Consoles?
With cloud gaming platforms like Google stadia rising and falling and Amazon’s new competition to, we can assume that expensive Hardware like the PlayStation and the Xbox will eventually go the way of the dinosaur.
A downfall of gaming systems has always been the expensive nature of new consoles. As well, consoles typically come out with new versions every few years. It means that constantly upgrading and spending more money on more modern, upgraded, and expensive consoles is a requirement of the console gaming lifestyle.
Many console manufacturers have known this for some time. They have seen the end of their future and thus have tried to adapt and evolve the game console in ways that would allow them to continue the sales of their products even with the advent of cloud gaming.
To compensate for this potential loss of market share, the game console companies in manufacturers have forever created game consoles that are more and more social media focused and capable of multiple Online Entertainment streaming such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, and just.
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What Does The Future Hold For Gaming
I think it’s safe to say that the gaming console is inevitably doomed. There will simply be less and less need for an intermediary piece of Hardware as servers become more complex and better able to serve websites, online games, and online databases to the masses without the masses requiring expensive Hardware.
Changes to internet technologies, such as Starlink satellite systems, internet, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth technologies, are continuously emerging. Improved updates from previous iterations show it is evident that, eventually, technology will surpass our ability to play these games in real-time. That is to say that the newer technologies’ response time will very shortly become faster than the response time of the human eye in hand. That is assuming it isn’t already there.Â
Cloud Gaming Pros And Cons Vs. Console Gaming
One of the benefits of console gaming is the dedicated machine and the game designed to run flawlessly. The problem with console gaming begins when games are updated. If a game goes through various iterations and metamorphosis through updates, this can often fill the console’s hard drive, making it challenging to have multiple games.
In this sense, the benefit of cloud gaming is that there is no machine. No hard drive and memory is required at the end of the user for this experience. Removing this hardware entirely from the equation means that the game’s entire updating process is done entirely on the server side.
Updates completed on the server side alleviate the user of vital time and effort in updating games. Including the loading time, which finds optimization on the server side, and the time saved by the user for cloud gaming is quite ambitious.
Now that cloud gaming is a reality, the games’ pricing whines up being similar to console games. However, the cost of a controller and initial setup in-stadia the Chromecast is considerably cheaper than purchasing a gaming console. Too bad Google botched Stadia so bad. Typically gaming consoles run at a hefty price, especially when they are new releases.
The downside to having cloud gaming lies with the weakest link of the chain – The internet connection. If you live in an area with poor internet, then cloud gaming will not be useful for your entertainment needs.
Console gaming still has a firm place in rural areas where internet services are lacking. However, cloud gaming will continue to grow as the Internet spreads and becomes faster.Â
Will Cloud Gaming Kill Consoles? Here’s The Bottom Line
I believe that consoles have a great place in gaming in the home. It is especially true, as mentioned, in areas where the internet lags. As the Internet and Technology continue to dominate our lives, cloud gaming will likely conquer the gaming industry’s future. But it may not be the death of consoles.
Cloud gaming has many benefits over console gaming, and consoles will likely face a tough road trying to keep up. One battle the consoles have already lost is the cost. It’s only a matter of time before the consoles’ final fate reveals itself. However, with the death of Stadia, we see that Sony and other powerhouses in the gaming industry aren’t about to let their empires crumble just yet. And, we still need a way to connect our controllers to the internet, so the intermediary ‘console’ may never go away, merely evolve.
