How cloud-based gaming platforms like Google Stadia can kill traditional consoles

The arrival of Cloud-based game streaming services like Apple Arcade, Google Stadia and the upcoming Microsoft XCloud is all set to change the way people play games, thus threatening the very survival of traditional gaming industry ruled by consoles like Microsoft Xbox and Sony PlayStation.

Cloud-based gaming is the new livestreaming trend after music and video. One big advantage of cloud gaming over the traditional one is lower cost of setup which can be played on smartphones, tablets, PCs and even TV.

A key advantage is that gaming enthusiasts can play with multiple players across multiple platforms with ease. The players are also introduced to leading world gaming championships such as Fortnite World Cup, Intel Extreme Masters and many more.

"Cloud gaming has become the future of the gaming industry; it could kill the traditional console. The advantage of Cloud gaming is that players would not rely on discs or need to download video games to play on high-powered PCs or gaming consoles such as Xbox or PlayStation," Marthesh Nagendra, Country Manager, India, Middle-East and SAARC, NETGEAR, told IANS.

India may see a $370 million gaming market by 2020, growing at more than 50 per cent year-on-year (YoY).

According to market research firm Newzoo, there are more than 2.5 billion gamers across the world now. Combined, they will spend $152.1 billion on games in 2019. Revenues generated by the console segment will reach $61.1 billion in 2022, increasing by a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 9.7 per cent.

With the increase in sizes of mobile display screens, better Internet speed and high-quality gaming routers, the gamer will enjoy frustration-free online and Cloud gaming by reducing lag and latency spikes.

"Internet and networking gadgets' advancement such as dual-band gigabit routers have also made decent contributions to Cloud-based gaming support. According to recent studies, the Cloud-based gaming market is set to grow to $8 billion in the year 2025 from $1 billion," said John Dong, Director, Tenda India, a leading provider of networking devices.

Three known tech giants -- Apple, Google and Microsoft -- are primarily pushing the limits to capture the Cloud-based video game subscription market.

Apple in September launched its subscription gaming service, Apple Arcade. The service, which is available for ₹99 in India, works on iPhones, iPads, Apple TV and Mac systems. It allows up to six family members to share the same subscription for one monthly fee.

Taking on Apple Arcade, Google launched its gaming subscription service Google Stadia in November with 22 games on board. Simultaneously, Tech giant Microsoft has finally launched Project xCloud game streaming service preview for Xbox users in the US, the UK and Korea.

Cloud allows users to play high-end games on low-end consoles which is cheaper for gaming companies, as they only pay for bandwidth actually used by their traffic.

One of the major benefits of Cloud-based gaming service is that the same game can be made available on multiple platforms and one can play any game on any device which it supports at any location.