Google And Gaming

xervantes (60)in #gaming • 6 years ago

The first months of 2018 turn out to be a great time for big gaming rumors. In this case a new player might be stepping into the ring. Non other than tech giant Google.

The website The information has published an article detailing how Google is working on a subscription-based game streaming service.

So don’t expect a console like the Xbox or Playstation. It is still unclear how the games will be streamed but some sort of micro-console seems more than likely.
Since the success of Netflix subscription-based gaming has turned into a dream for many game companies. Just imagine the impact that such a successful gaming service would have.

The only thing that has kept streaming games from becoming popular are the technical difficulties that come with developing such a service.
Onlive was close but their efforts were cut short after Sony purchased the most important part of the company in 2015 and used the tech for their own streaming service.

The question is whether Google can succeed where so many others have failed? Google surely has the means to make this work. More than that they have an unprecedented knowledge about Cloud computing and streaming services.

Google likes to try out new things so it also remains to be seen if they are going to follow through with their codenamed project “Yeti”.

Let’s look at some reasons why Google would pursue an adventure in videogaming.

Videogaming is a $100 billion business
Yup, money is a great motivator
Google wants to take over your living room
Chromecast and Google Home are (successful) attempts to build a Google precense in our homes. A Google console would fit within that strategy.
They have the knowledge
People at Google are supersmart and cloud computing is basically their “thang”. Streaming games and overcoming the current technical issues would be something that Google might be able to pull off.
Just..because they can
Google has self driving cars, makes voice activated pods, tiny discs that stream videos from you phone to your TV, navigation maps, and the list goes on and on! So why not gaming? It’s not a stretch because Google has tried to produce a gaming console before. It is unclear what went wrong but a cloud based gaming service would be a better fit for Google.
Broadband, fiber and other high speed internet connections
Times have changed, broadband connections have become commonplace, we are able to stream 4k videos without problems. The infrastructure is in place now all that is needed is a good service to push those connections to the limit.

Prestige
Anyone that has ever played Call of Duty (like probably every gamer ever!) knows that Prestige is everything. Streaming Games has never really caught on, although everyone recognized the possibilities and opportunities. The first company to get this right will get its name written in gold in the History of Gaming Chronicles.

Can Google Gaming become a thing? Yes, in theory it could. Is it going to happen? Well, we just don’t know. Google likes to try out new things but can also drop abandon project just as fast. In this case I will believe it when I see it.
There is also the question if Google can pull this off, a lot of other companies have tried (with varying success) to introduce streaming services for games and none have really become popular.
The idea of not being dependent on expensive hardware to play games is very alluring, it would give videogaming a real boost and make games accessible to a very large new audience.