If you are a fan of video gaming and cannot imagine your life without video games, then we have something special for you over here. Cloud gaming is a niche that will be of great interest to you and will greatly broaden your interest range. Let’s dive into this revolutionary industry together!

Cloud Gaming as it is

With the development of Netflix, the term “streaming” has become familiar to the wide community of Internet users. With 148 million subscribers worldwide, Netflix is ​​a leader among suppliers of movies and TV shows based on streaming multimedia. And the huge success of the company's business model is associated with the distribution of content related to the gaming industry.

All this has led to the emergence of the expression “Netflix for video games.” It describes services that allow you to play on any device regardless of its technical characteristics and specs by moving the data to the cloud. Let’s take a closer look at what cloud gaming is, what features/benefits it boasts of, and what prospects it has in the near future. You can also check Cooltechzone to know what other cool gaming products are on offer today.

What is Cloud Gaming?

Cloud gaming is a new way to play video games with the later being launched not on the user's device but on the remote server (in the cloud) of the company providing the gaming service. Players still control the gameplay on their own device; however, the commands are sent to a server directly executing these commands and streams the video game to the user.

Cloud gaming can be divided into three main types depending on the technology employed in the gameplay process:

1. Video streaming – it is associated with streaming an interactive video. The player sends input commands to the server, thus, controlling the game remotely. At the same time, the server processes the operations and runs the game. In this case, image rendering occurs in the cloud on remote CPUs/GPUs, while the gameplay video is transmitted to the user and decoded on the local device. Video streaming allows you to play at high settings and enjoy good graphics; however, it requires a fast and stable Internet for a comfortable game.

2. Command streaming – in this case, game logic and graphic commands are processed in the cloud, while rendering occurs locally on the user's device. Compared to streaming an interactive video, this approach reduces the load on the network. Sending commands requires significantly less bandwidth from the Internet compared to transmitting a video. It also allows you to reduce latency due to the lack of the need to encode and decode a video. The problem with this method is that the game graphics are limited by the GPU capabilities of the device being used for the gameplay.

3. File streaming – it is also known as stream file transfer. The technology allows players to access the game after downloading a small number of files (about 5%) to their device. File streaming technology allows game developers to reduce the cost of producing media and sending patches to players. However, due to the fact that users are still forced to download files to their device, they still need to have powerful equipment and use the device where these files are stored. 

What Are the Benefits of Cloud Gaming?

There are a lot of cool things about cloud gaming, which make is so popular among gaming community members. Here are some of the things that you will definitely like:

● No need to update the hardware – The player does not need to buy expensive gaming equipment. If the user does not have enough money to buy a new computer, cloud gaming can be a good solution. Another option is that the player has a powerful computer but doesn’t want to purchase a game console, then a cloud gaming us a perfect match for him.

● Instant game launch – Media files of modern games can weigh from 10GB, and “unpacked” games can be even heavier. The process of installing such packages takes a lot of time – up to several hours. Cloud gaming solves this problem.

● Location independence – Cloud gaming allows players not to become attached to the place of the game, which is especially valuable for those who travel a lot and cannot take a powerful gaming computer with them.

● Cross-platform – The ability to play games designed for PC and console games on your smartphone is a good thing. This greatly expands the assortment of games to customers and is especially beneficial for console owners.

● Potential integration with other devices – Already partially implemented in some televisions, cloud gaming solutions can be also run just on any device being at your hand.

What to Expect

In their report on the prospects for the development of the cloud gaming services market for 2016-2020, industry experts predict the global market growth by 29% per year. It seems to be an excellent prospect for market participants. So let’s track the progress together and test out top gaming solutions being available now.