Will Game Plus (Yahoo! Games) put an end to the struggles of cloud gaming?
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Hello, this is Nakauchi from the Technical Sales Department
On July 18th, Yahoo! launched the Yahoo! Games Game Plus
You can enjoy two types of games: HTML5-based games and cloud games
Rakuten recently launched an HTML5 game service, and BXD (a new company jointly funded by Bandai Namco and Drecom) has announced a service
- Rakuten: Rakuten Games
- BXD: Service start date undecided (as of July 23, 2017)
So I thought there might be another wave of browser games ( I wrote a blog ), but at first I thought, "Cloud gaming? Huh?"
But, thinking about it, I'll write about this later
First of all, what is cloud gaming?
What is cloud gaming?
Here's the explanation from Wikipedia
Information such as the user's controller operation and the voice from the microphone is transmitted via the Internet or cable TV line, and all calculations, processing, and communication based on that information are performed on the server (cloud), and the calculation results are simply streamed to [4] Therefore, a thin client , performance is not dependent on the device and can be widely supported.
Simply put, the game runs on a server and is sent to the device as a video, so even if your device doesn't have high specs, you can play the game with incredibly beautiful graphics
Cloud gaming is a wonderful service, but the providers are struggling
Square Enix
August 14, 2015: Streaming service DIVE IN ends
January 6, 2016 Shinra Technology disbands
Shinra Technology was a subsidiary of Square Enix Holdings that aimed to launch a cloud gaming platform, but was dissolved after just a year and a half
G-cluster
On May 23, 2016, the provider, G-Cluster Global Co., Ltd., went bankrupt, and the business was taken over by Broadmedia GC Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Broadmedia Corporation
PlayStation Now
There are a lot of opinions that it is too expensive
If you search for "psnow expensive" on Twitter, you'll get quite a few hits
It's certainly expensive..
At this price, there won't be any dormant users
There's a reason why it's difficult and expensive!!
Of course
I think there are two biggest weaknesses of cloud gaming
- Game Delay
- Server costs
These are the two
First regarding game delays, this is an issue that affects users.
Due to the structure of the game, where processing is performed on the server and video is sent to the client device, delays are unavoidable. This may be possible in RPGs, but it would be difficult in fighting games and shooters, where time can vary by fractions of a second
The further away you are from the server, the longer the latency will be
There is a certain segment of users who dislike this issue
And number two is a problem on the part of the provider.
Due to the structure of cloud gaming, server costs are quite high
The server has to be available whether players show up or not
It would be more accurate to say that the PS Now usage fee has been kept to 2,315 yen per month as a result of corporate efforts
So, why do I think Game Plus might be a good option?
Because Yahoo! has a subsidiary called IDC Frontier!
IDC Frontier is a server company with a huge data center that is still expanding.
Furthermore, we have the backbone to provide users with servers equipped with NVIDIA's high-performance GPUs
Reference page: IDC Frontier becomes the first in Japan to offer NVIDIA's high-performance GPUs on an hourly basis
Other game companies will likely have to either build new server infrastructure or rent it from a server company, but either way, the cost will likely be significantly higher than what Yahoo is paying to use IDC Frontier
This issue will be a major advantage in continuing the service
With this, we will have a solid lineup of titles, and if we can attract a user base that doesn't mind delays, I think we have a chance of success
By the way, I played FF13 with Game Plus and I hardly noticed any lag
Finally, please refrain from pointing out that Sony has So-net
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