The Black Sheep of Gaming

With the invention of streaming, or any type of media content delivered to computers and mobile devices via the internet and played back in real time, people all over the world are able to enjoy everything from true crime podcasts to the latest superhero flick to their favorite genre of music! Streaming, without a doubt, created convenience for the general public; there’s no need to go out and buy the latest technology or even spend an entire day trying to download a movie of your choice. All that’s required is any sort of device with streaming capabilities (a mobile phone, TV, etc.) and an internet connection and bam! You have almost any form of entertainment right at your fingertips.

However, it seems like the one form of popular entertainment that has yet to almost permanently switch over to the streaming service model is video games. Imagine how convenient it would be to stream games; for one, consumers wouldn’t really need expensive consoles and without the need to download titles, you can not only save space on your console’s hard drive, but also spend less time waiting around for your game to start!

But, as one may expect, this scenario is entirely too good to be true. Streaming video games via the internet, or cloud in this case, definitely exists, but in no way has it surpassed the traditional way of playing games nor become the “next big thing”

The idea of cloud gaming first began all the way back at E3 2000, a trade event for the video game industry, where G-cluster set up a booth and displayed cloud gaming for the first time. This idea was built upon until the launch of 2010’s OnLive console, a cloud gaming service that went bankrupt 2 years later. OnLive is considered the first big, and mainstream, cloud gaming platform. The service cost $15 a month, but consumers also had to buy the games they wanted to play at full price separately. OnLive was also available on computers, smart devices, and their own micro console. Despite being a small company, OnLive’s service had access to a few big titles, such as the Batman: Arkham series, Assassin’s Creed, and Bioshock.

Being the first major cloud gaming service obviously means the overall connection and quality of one’s gaming experience wasn’t the best, but OnLive’s cloud gaming was still okay at the time, considering many ran their games on an underpowered computer with wifi connection. One could even go as far as saying OnLive’s service was better than many of the services offered today.

After the death of OnLive, cloud gaming made a comeback under Sony’s name. With PlayStation Now, users could now stream video games through the use of a cloud gaming subscription, along with the renting of games. You see, users had to pay a rental fee on top of their yearly subscription. The prices of these rentals depended on the game, but they could range anywhere from around $2 for 4 hours to $30 for 90 days. Over time, this model changed into $60 for a year with no extra rental fee.

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Although PlayStation Now could be described as just fine, there are a few drawbacks. First is the service’s catalog, which was mainly PS3 games. If a consumer were to only use PlayStation Now to have access to these PlayStation 3 titles, it might just be worthwhile to dish out enough money to buy a pre-owned PS3 along with the games someone is interested in experiencing. The overall quality of these games is also alright, but not perfect. Frame drops and glitches do occur, but you sort of forget that you're streaming a game half the time due to how focused you are. Although, with games that require timing, it can be frustrating trying to play due to controller input lag. Overall, PlayStation Now is a mixed bag: most games won’t run well, there’s still a long load time, and quality is unpredictable. The only legitimate reasons to use PlayStation Now is to play games on PC (where PS Now also happens to be on), playing PS3 games, and saving space on your console’s hard drive.

To add onto the downsides listed above, cloud gaming just doesn’t have the longevity as physical or even digital downloads of games. At the end of the day, cloud gaming is just games running on supercomputers and are being streamed to the consumer on more powerful hardware via the internet; the moment the servers that make this all capable of happening shut down, it’s all over. Cloud gaming feels more like a small fad than just a permanent solution to long load times or saving space on a console’s hard drive. In a world where you could only stream video games, many old games would be lost forever or would be difficult to play, due to their main running source being destroyed. This problem could still exist in modern day, with such cloud gaming consoles like Google Stadia having exclusive games available on their platform. Of course the games aren’t anything worthwhile, but lost media is lost media regardless of how important it may be.

Another con regarding cloud gaming is how inconvenient it is just to play games on the go. You see, many cloud gaming services allow on-the-go gaming through apps on one’s mobile device. The issue? On-the-go gaming is clunky. In order for everything to work smoothly, one needs a phone, controller, high speed internet, and a phone mound. At that point, it’s just easier to get a portable game console that’s guaranteed to have a much larger and diverse game selection, such as the Nintendo Switch.

Cloud gaming has definitely not improved too much over the past 10 years of its relevance. To prove this, let’s use one of the most recent cloud gaming launches, Kingdom Hearts Integrum Masterpiece for Cloud. Featuring almost all the games in the Kingdom Hearts franchise, the complete collection launched on the Nintendo eShop in early February for $90 in honor of the 20th anniversary of the series and to celebrate Sora, the series’ protagonist, revealed as the final fighter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

In short, the game doesn’t run very well. Kingdom Hearts is a game where perfect timing is crucial to defeating bosses and completing the game entirely. When both controller input lag and regular lag are present in the final product, you’ll receive some frustrating reactions from longtime fans and newcomers alike. As stated time and time again, it’s so much easier just to go out and buy a PS4 and Kingdom Hearts The Story So Far, which includes almost every game and retails for about $30.

At the time of writing this, the only way cloud gaming works is as a supplement to traditional gaming. In no way does cloud gaming replace physical copies of video games. It’s inevitable that streaming video games via the internet will eventually be the norm at some point in time, despite its many bugs, lag, and complications. But, for now, cloud gaming is nothing more than an infuriating alternative and is nowhere near ready to be a progressive step forward in the world of gaming.