The Age of "Streamed" Gaming is Finally Upon Us... Or is it?

I remember it like it was yesterday. The Eurogamer Expo in 2011. I turned up to the event and one of the first things I noticed upon entering the venue was this huge queue at the back of the hall, with a ginormous stand as the backdrop! After curiosity got the better of me, I headed straight to it only to discover this new startup company called OnLive giving out free consoles, complete with customised gamepad, for absolutely free! An initiative on their part, to get their streaming games service out to the masses. And after testing it out at home, found that it worked amazingly well. Authentic "On demand" gaming at your fingertips. No install needed, no disks, just pickup and play. It all looked too good to be true. However in 2015, due to unexpected hugely inflated losses, OnLive closed shop for good. So, what went wrong?

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Well, timing could well be the main culprit. Connections weren't as fast as they are today. In addition to the general public still not used to the idea of digital streaming per se. People were of the mindset that you had to own a physical copy of whatever you purchased. Be it a movie, game or music. But things were, even back then, in the process of changing. And in today's evolved entertainment climate, the world seems ready for that change to finally be implemented. So, enter Google with their brand new gaming system, Stadia. Yes, the multi-billion dollar corporate giant is ready to take on the likes of Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo within one of the most lucrative, yet highly competitive industries in the world.

All we had to go on was is a singular gamepad. Nothing unusual there. Just your standard, run-of-the-mill ten button iteration similar to its Playstation or Xbox One counterparts. What "was" slightly more interesting are what Google's new services will be capable of. Apparently, you'll get a seamless experience outdoing any console currently on the market, with an out-of-the-box 60 fps running at 4K resolution. And this can also, in the future, be bumped up to a staggering 120 fps running at 8K resolution. Unbelievable claims that was something the competition most definitely did not take lightly. We are fast moving into an age where purchasing and owning actual media for our entertainment requirements, is being gradually phased out. I recall Blu-ray touted as the next big thing after DVD. And look how that turned out. Netflix is already responsible for the demise of many huge retail outlets. Tower Records, Virgin and the now ailing HMW, were your one-stop shop for everything games and movies related, once upon a time. Not any more. Even music services like Spotify are cornering the market and reducing CD sales by insane margins. We are now officially a nation of streamers and therefore it makes sense that video games will be the next logical step.

However, the behemoth that is Google isn't breaking out the champagne just yet. Their subscription model for multiplayer gaming as well as buying individual titles from an in-house store, does not seem to be enticing the masses. In fact, recently they've been offering the device for free in a bid to bolster interest in the Stadia which appears, for now at least, to be a stagnant venture. Although it must be said that an initiative to allow free-to-play titles in junction with the Coronavirus lockdown, are seeing a slight turn of the tides. Destiny 2, for instance, now enjoys busy lobbies and a huge resurgence in consistent player numbers. Could this, albeit depressing, "lightning-in-a-bottle" be the spark to ignite the flame in the wake of OnLive and it's cataclysmic failure and demise? We shall indeed see soon enough.

In a time when competition is at the highest it's ever been as well as the fickle nature of the global masses, streaming appears to be the most practical option on the table. Who knows? The age of the console may soon be cast to the scrap heap of technological relics, given a few years time. Sad but true. Let's watch this space and find out, shall we? :)

Hope you enjoyed this post, please look out for more on the way... (author: @ezzy)

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