EA Says Game Streaming Is Certain – It’s Just A Matter Of Time

EA Says Game Streaming Is The Future!

There are a fair few game streaming devices currently available to buy. These are largely designed on the premise that all the system needs in terms of hardware are the capability to stream videos and to transmit controller inputs via the internet. We have already seen indications that Microsoft might be planning such a system (or at least version) in their next Xbox console.

In a report via GamesIndustry.biz, it seems that EA agrees that this is the way forward. They just don’t know when the transition will happen.

An Idea That Makes A Lot Of Sense

It is, in theory, an idea that makes lots of sense. If we overlook the whole PC industry, consoles are (pretty much) out-dated tech on launch. Developers then generally tend to spend the next 4-6 year cycle working out how to get the absolute best from it. In fairness, this has worked in the past with The Last Of Us showing that the PS3, even with the PS4 release on the horizon, could still surprise us.

If you do, however, remove the hardware element and just go for video streaming capability, it opens up massive doors for the future of systems.

No More Hardware Limitations

If such a system is deployed then there would no longer be any realistic hardware restrictions in the home console market. This would, essentially, allow developers like EA to take their game as far as they like in terms of size and development.

EA has said: “The main challenge I believe has been service infrastructure. The bandwidth you need to deliver that opportunity on scale. And today, that is still a challenge. But [we] think over the next year to two years. That barrier will drop. Not for everyone. But for a lot of people. Bandwidth capabilities will go up so the business model around streaming a game becomes more viable. If you buy into a streaming solution and the experience is laggy half the time, you’re going to stop and not do it again. Which is the challenge some of the companies previously had.”

They added that “[we] think there’s now a solution where we can deliver on the promise. And we’re working with a lot of the companies who create the server infrastructure. And there are a lot of innovative solutions from a lot of big companies we’re working with that will actually allow us to bring this to life.”

It’s an idea that makes sense to me, but what do you think? – Let us know in the comments!