PlayKey - Are they the future of gaming?
Hello Steemians! Recently I got to know about PlayKey through a close friend of mine and I instantly got intrigued. PlayKey is a cloud gaming service (Gaming as a service or GaaS) platform. What is cloud gaming or GaaS, you may ask? It is a relatively new way of gaming which outsources the computational and graphics requirements of gaming to another party (typically the cloud gaming service provider). By doing so, you do not need to have your own gaming rig and yet, you will be able to play the AAA game titles 😎. Other than PlayKey, other well-known cloud gaming providers are, PlayStation Now, GameFly, LiquidSky, Vortex and Shadow.
An illustration of how you play a game via cloud gaming service. From your own device, you log into a software client provided by the Cloud gaming platform. Then you launch a game and start to input controls with your keyboard and mouse or gamepad. The servers at the back-end of the cloud gaming provider will receive your inputs, play the game and streams a video back to you just like the way you watch YouTube or dTube. For you to visualize it better, below is a video review I found on YouTube for PlayKey.
The pros and cons
The good thing about cloud gaming is the cost. To build a decent gaming rig, it will likely going to cost you at least US$1250. Comparing with the most expensive price plan from PlayKey, at US$69.90 per month, having your own gaming rig is going to cost at least 1.5 years of subscription plan. That is not considering the cost of upgrades/maintenance for your rig along the way and the high power consumption while playing games. Furthermore, since the upfront cost is low, it will not be so much of a waste if you ended up not playing as much as you would love to.
The technology is not new, in fact another company, OnLive started this idea in 2003 but it failed to take off mainly because the internet was not fast enough to support this technology. Today, the internet is fast enough to make cloud gaming possible. However, cloud gaming being a relatively new concept, has still yet to perfect the user experience. If you are a hardcore gamer, you will certainly feel that owning your own rig provides a much better experience. Moreover, the performance is bottle-necked by network latency, hence you will need really good internet connection in order to get the best out of this service.
Who is it suitable for then?
As mentioned, if you are a hardcore gamer, then cloud gaming is not for you. You will have a much better experience with your own gaming rig. And based on my experience, hardcore gamers also derive joy in building and maintaining their own rig anyway 😆.
If you are a casual gamer, cloud gaming is probably not for you as well. The games you play are probably well supported on your normal laptops or PCs. So there is really little incentives for you to subscribe to a cloud gaming service.
Therefore, I think cloud gaming service is suitable for those mid-tier gamers who are interested to play a few of the AAA titles but do not find it worthwhile to build their own gaming rig. Gamers who have difficulties finding time for games may also like this service as they have the flexibility to choose a cheaper subscription plan and still get to play the game they want.
Decentralizing the cloud gaming service
The key element which caught my eye for PlayKey is that they are aiming to create a decentralized platform to provide cloud gaming service. I find this an interesting proposition since I like the idea of decentralization and the use of blockchain/cryptocurrencies.
Essentially, in the ecosystem, there will be "miners" who will be "renting" out their spare computational powers and users who consume this services. The "miners" will be rewarded with PlayKey tokens ($PKT) and users will need to pay in $PKT. You can imagine how this can be a self-sustainable P2P system with "miners" providing services, users consuming services and PlayKey focusing on developing the platform. All these are made possible with underlying blockchain and smart contracts infrastructure.
To fund this project, they have recently completed their ICO and if you are keen, you can view this video from PlayKey, on their token sale completion:
To me, it will be interesting to see how the team is able to build this decentralized infrastructure without taking a hit on gaming performance. Currently, they are testing the decentralized architecture on servers hosted by themselves and the full decentralized network will be ready sometime in 2019. I am looking forward to it and I am tracking their progress through their Twitter and Telegram channel.
While waiting for the network to be developed, $PKT holders will soon be able to use the tokens to purchase subscriptions on PlayKey's current platform. This was announced on their official Reddit page. In the announcement, they mentioned that 1 $PKT will be worth US$2 on their platform. It means that I will be able to buy their basic plan with 20 $PKT tokens. Interestingly, 1 $PKT is now being traded at ~US$0.70. This represents a huge discount if you are keen to use their platform 😋.
By decentralizing the cloud gaming service, PlayKey is really pushing the boundaries of gaming. Will they be the future of gaming? Only time will tell.
Once again, thanks for reading! Are you a gamer? Will you be keen in subscribing to cloud gaming services? Comment below and let me know.
Very interesting concept and probably good timing as well, since technology (ie. internet speeds) has advanced to make this possible.Do agree with you about utilization by mid-tier gamers in your definition.
For the longest time, I enjoy playing games as much as watching others play. But Alas! I didn't expect viewers who could become addicted to watching gamers on live stream and even paying a monthly subscription in the process!
In this chaotic, yet beautiful world we call home, I realised anything, as long as there's even the slightest possibility, can happen!
Yes bro. OnLive had the foresight but too bad the timing was wrong. The internet was not ready for this concept in 2003. But now, I think the internet is mature enough and this type of gaming might just take off.
I am a casual gamer and the cloud gaming service is a great way for upcoming gamers who cannot afford to have a gaming rig use the service. Upvoted!
Yup! I think it does serve a specific group of gamers and I do believe this concept will take off pretty soon.
As for me, I'm interested in retro games, they can be played with any old hardware. About technology - interesting question, will this lead to an increase in piracy, it's hard to control, who exactly can play the game.
It does not lead to piracy. The users will need to still pay for the games in order to play them. The cloud gaming service merely provides the graphics processing power for the game to run and stream it live to you.
Really interesting concept, the first thing came to my mind was 'Yay I can make some profit out of my gaming rig soon!' too haha.
Haha.. indeed! Your gaming rig doubles up as a mining rig when you are not playing.
Congratulation culgin! Your post has appeared on the hot page after 11min with 25 votes.
Thanks to @souldelas.
STOPDevelopment of technology has always been very interesting, a game provider that will be utilizing cryptocurrency, cloud-storage, and blockchain is mind-blowing. Awesome article @culgin.