Would an all cloud/streaming future "ruin" video games for you?

[Maple]

If gaming ultimately did become all cloud based/streaming, what type of effect would this have on your enjoyment of video games?

For example, in an all cloud gaming future, your local hardware simply would not matter. You would be able to play, say, the new God of War on Playstation, PC, SmartTV, phone, or even your 7 year old laptop. The processing power of your device would simply be irrelevant, as all processing would be done on the back end. Anyone could play any game on any device.

I know that talking about hardware is a big part of this industry for many people, myself included. I absolutely love reading about the latest rumors about the tech that could potentially go inside the PS5/next Xbox. I love watching Digital Foundry's videos on GPUs and framerates and how different processor and GPU combinations can yield different results for different games. Talking and reading about hardware is a major part of video games as a hobby for me - but in an all cloud future, the hardware part of the equation is suddenly gone, since it simply would not matter.

Would this potential future affect your enjoyment of video games in any way?

 

[Deleted member 249]

Yes, it would. I'll bail the day that happens.
Thankfully, it won't.

 

[Zippro]

Yes, because when the servers go down it means you can't play the game anymore. Imagine if movies like Mad Max: Fury Road or games like Breath of the Wild were only available for streaming and then disappeared forever after 5 years because they couldn't keep up costs for that one title. Every game would become a "You had to be there." experience.

 

[ProstatePuncher]

Fuck that. I love hardware. Having my entire hobby exist at the whim of a corporation with their servers, or the government flipping a switch to kill services, is insanity.

 

[Blade Wolf]

My internet is faster than most of yours and my answer is a big fat YES

 

[Deleted member 1413]

I'd be fine with it, I think.
Would need better WiFi, tho

 

[TrickyAssist]

I think there's potential but certainly not right now. If we can ever get to a point where USB-C tier speeds are standard for internet connections, I'd be fine with it. Latency would still be a problem, though. If those issues can be sorted out then I'm down for it.

 

[Platy]

Literally
Like all the servers for this stuff is in the USA, Europe on Japan, so the latency here in south america is literally unplayable.

I would probably reach a good amount of backlog when it happens so i will just survive for the rest of my life with "retro" games =P

 

[Xavi]

I'd stop gaming if that happens. (It won't)

 

[Tiny Chihuahueño]

I still have my mega drive and super nes hooked up, so i guess I'll play that instead. Maybe one day streaming will be as perfect as having a physical game, but in the meantime it'll suck ass.

 

[Deleted member 249]

I think there's potential but certainly not right now. If we can ever get to a point where USB-C tier speeds are standard for internet connections, I'd be fine with it. Latency would still be a problem, though. If those issues can be sorted out then I'm down for it.

Click to shrink...

Latency issues are thanks to the fundamental laws of physics, you can't get around them short of pre-emptive computing (in which case some local computing by the client would be required anyway, so why not fucking go all the way)

 

[GameZone]

Yes.

 

[LinkStrikesBack]

Yes, it would.

Just thinking about how unreliable the Mario Tennis Aces demo was gives me shudders for the idea of requiring a constant, reliable internet connection.

 

[Deleted member 29682]

If it worked as well as actually having the hardware, performance-wise, then no.

 

[Renna Hazel]

My internet is faster than most of yours and my answer is a big fat YES

Click to shrink...

How fast is your internet?

 

[Lord Brady]

If it's anything like Playstation Now, yes, I'd rather give up gaming than deal with that shit.

 

[eXistor]

I'd be out completely and focus on what's already out and revisit all the classics I want to replay anyway but don't really get around to at the moment and explore even more retro gaming goodness. Hell, I probably wouldn't even be that bothered by it.

 

[Mr. Poolman]

Nope.
I expect this to happen sooner or later.

I feel people are still too attached to hardware, but someday that has to go.

 

[cardboardboxer]

Right now the best games on the market are console exclusive games made for certain pieces of hardware, to help sell that hardware.

Once that motivation is taken away and the Sony's of the world only make a God of War game to make sure you sign up for their gamepass over Microsoft's something will have been lost in the process. Instead of showing off the hardware it will be all about getting its claws in so you will keep subscribing next month.

 

[Last Jon Standing]

Yes, since I actually like owning the things I pay for.

 

[TubaZef]

It will eventually happen and I can't see why that would affect my enjoyment. Having all the processing done in the backend would eliminate all worry about the player having a good enough device to run your game and (at least in theory) devs could go for whatever they want. No limitations in graphics or AI. Also, not needing to have an specific machine to play a game would help become the medium more popular and bring up a lot of new possibilities.

It won't become a standard until Internet speed becomes good enough for most people, so it will still take a while (not before 2030 IMO).

 

[bane833]

Yes that's definitely not going to fly with me.

 

[Deleted member 18951]

Nope. Me and my high speed broadband are ready. Bring it!

 

[DevilPuncher]

If the technology's there (I.E., no stuttering, good picture quality, no input delay) I don't see why I'd be too opposed to it, at least initially.

That said, would I want everything to be cloud based? No, but there's definitely a use for it in a lot of cases.

 

[solari]

Yeah, would make fighting games unplayable on the whole basically.

 

[Deleted member 11413]

I would be much less invested in the medium, yes. I like owning the media I enjoy. Netflix hasn't replaced buying Blu-Rays of shows or films I really care about, game streaming wouldn't either.

That said, they aren't going to stop selling movies on disc any time soon so I don't think games will be any different. Why eliminate an additional revenue stream?

 

[Deleted member 44288]

It takes me a good while for my NetZero free disc-like speeds to load pages on here. So I can't imagine loading any game above Asteroids would be possible.

 

[DOT_mjo]

Nope, we have adapted to craziness before and we will continue to do that in the future. Gamers will continue to play no matter what they have to do.

 

[Sloane Ranger]

Yes. And I have great broadband. I would stop gaming.

 

[Slammin_Hammon]

Yeah, until the tech was properly sorted out I wouldn't be interested, and even then I don't like the idea of losing any sense of ownership and being at the whim of the service providers.
I don't mind this as much with Netflix because I can still buy Blu-rays and I don't care about movies and TV as much as games anyways.

 

[Deleted member 22630]

Nope, doesn't bother me.

 

[Deleted member 15538]

I'm all digital and ready to ditch my library when nextgen arrives, I don't replay SP games really apart from some 16 bit stuff.
But it would have to feel exactly the same and I can't see that happen.

 

[MorshuTheTrader]

Wouldn't bother me at all as long as the infrastructure/tech is there. There couldn't be any perceivable input delay/compression for me to truly be okay with it.

 

[Inuhanyou]

yes. if corps try and take my ownership of games away and lock them behind a fucking cloud service, consider me done.

Apologists for this garbage be gone

 

[Deleted member 2620]

Would the games be as responsive as I'm used to them today, on my gsync setup?

Would the differences in visual quality due to video compression be noticable?

Would I have the same level of access to my games as I do now? (would I have to worry about ISP and service outages, do I still get to install mods to my games 10 years after they're released, etc etc)

These are pretty big factors, and I think I know the real-world answers to these for the foreseeable future.

 

[Mac Dalton]

Yes , its a no go for me!

 

[Deleted member 36578]

If the internet were perfect I'd be all for it. But it isn't. And I don't think it will be any time soon.

 

[Blade Wolf]

How fast is your internet?

Click to shrink...

Used to be 300mbps/100mbps minimum but recently I downgrade it to 100mbps/60mbps minimum cause I really don't need that much.

Not fast by any means, but more than enough for streaming.

 

[Shan]

Less invested for sure but only because i'm situated in a good location where it wouldn't be a problem. As a whole, the idea would be godawful though.

 

[defaltoption]

Yea it definitely would, I wouldn't walk away forever or anything but new gaming would become an after thought and something I rarely spend my time on, I would focus on the past games I already own and can get my hands on whenever I wanted to play something.

 

[mentallyinept]

It would kill the games I like to play (fighting, tight platforming) so yeah it would be apocalyptic to me.

 

[Android Sophia]

The technology and infrastructure doesn't realistically exist to make cloud gaming a viable choice for either the user or the company. It probably won't be completely viable until the tail end of my lifespan too.

So, based upon that, no, I wouldn't want an all cloud/streaming future.

 

[danlher]

Yes, it would ruint it, and I have a great connection with no cap and a lot of external HDs.

Luckily I have a lot of consoles to play on, so on 2nd thought, it would ruin only next gen or whatever gen that goes digital only.

 

[esseesse]

Yes, it would. I'll bail the day that happens.
Thankfully, it won't.

Click to shrink...

Yes it will. Technology keeps developing and there is no way to stop it. Most media/content are converging to streaming especially when they want to eliminate the middle-man to increase their profit margin.

 

[Cheezeman3000]

Right now, we're limited by what we know and can experience. If a game streaming service 10 years from now offers whatever the resolution/framerate standard is at the time with no noticeable latency or input lag, then absolutely, that would be pretty cool. Until then, nope. I hate input lag with a passion.

 

[PSqueak]

I do a lot of offline gaming, so a cloud future would fuck me over, specially because internet providers in my country arent exactly the best.

All digital, would be slightly betetr, but i'd prefer to have the option of physical media because you cant revoke the license of a disc.

 

[Spacejaws]

More than tbe hardware aspect I'm actually worried where the mentality would start shaping the games. I'm not sure that titles born out of an always online streaming environent would be something I'd like. Especially if the focus is on service content.

 

[Hate]

Yes it would.

 

[GamerEra]

It's just not worth it with the lag and constant streaming using too much data. Might as well download. Anyway we don't even have an all digital console yet.

 

[Renna Hazel]

Used to be 300mbps/100mbps minimum but recently I downgrade it to 100mbps/60mbps minimum cause I really don't need that much.

Not fast by any means, but more than enough for streaming.

Click to shrink...

I tried PSNow back when I had 100/100 and I thought it ran horribly. I'm curious what speeds we'll have to before I don't notice any lag or loading during the game. My speeds are higher now but I'm not willing to pay for PS Now to find out. Have you tried it at 300mbps?