When Will Cloud Gaming Take Over Consoles?

Cloud gaming has been much talked about technology over the last 15 years or so, but it’s never really taken off. It has its champions, of course, and they’ll use it more regularly than a console. But when is it going to hit the mainstream?

Realistically, it’s going to take a little while. That’s not just because of tech, which is making surprising strides each year. It’s also because of attitudes. People just like to have their consoles or their PC, without the hassle of having to deal with playing games over the internet.

Do we really want a future where game reviews are based entirely on the subjective nature of the reviewer’s connection?

The real answer to the question in the title of this post is this: cloud gaming will take over from consoles when it is cheaper, more convenient and more reliable. And you might as well ask how long a piece of string is. 

Let’s break that down a little bit. 

Cheaper

In theory, this one is baked in. But it’s a pretty flimsy theory.

Without having to buy a console, everybody can jump into games of all shapes and sizes. Just bring up the app on your TV, connect your controller and have fun.

But life is never that simple. You’re either locked into a subscription like Game Pass, or you’re buying games full price anyway. And as brick and mortar stores go the way of the dodo, that means you’re increasingly relying on digital stores to give you the discount you want. That doesn’t always happen.

In fact, if everything is run on servers, the people owning the servers have less incentive to reduce prices. Sure, competition and customers might drive prices down to a degree, but is that a risk you’re willing to take?

This is all a bit doom and gloom, and things would even out just fine. But the perception of this is part of the problem that needs to be worked out.

Convenience  

There’s something that just sounds cool about being able to access your games without needing to muck about with additional devices. Just turn on your TV, press a button and get ready to go.

It’s not science fiction, it’s already happening today. But it’s only as convenient as the number of devices it’s available on. If your TV doesn’t support it, then it’s not even up for discussion.

Does it take longer to load into a game via cloud than through your dedicated device, with quick resume and second-long boot times? Almost definitely. So that’s something that needs to be fixed too.

Reliability

This is the crux of the matter. If I want to play a game on my Xbox or PlayStation, I know it’ll do it in half a second flat. It just works. The same is true on PC for the most part.

With cloud gaming, I don’t know if I’m going to have a decent connection, or if the latency is a problem with the game or with your stream of the game. If you can’t trust what you’re playing, how can you enjoy it? That’s especially true for online games.

Reliability has a long way to go, and it speaks for itself. Until this is sorted, cloud gaming will never be mainstream.