We stream everything else, why not stream your video games too?
Streaming video, whether it be through YouTube, Twitch, Netflix, or Hulu, has already become a staple of most households in some fashion, whether or not you’re particularly tech-savvy or not. Smart TVs and other streaming-primed devices make slipping into a world of internet based media all the easier for the average media consumer. But what about video games?
Digital downloads of video games are no new feature of the tech industry. We’ve been legally downloading video games since the early 2000’s when internet bandwidth finally allowed for users to access their content without taking forever. While the technology existed in the 1980’s, the downloading of video games was severely hindered by internet technology. As our bandwidths have grown, companies have increasingly transitioned to distributing their content to us via the internet.
When was the last time you bought a physical version of a non-Nintendo title? While discs are available for the newest generations of consoles, downloading of titles directly from console stores has been around for the Xbox 360/PlayStation for three years, and has only grown in popularity. So much so, that rather than downloading a game on the PS4, you are now able to stream titles from the gaming cloud.
Much like Netflix, services like PlayStation’s “PlayStation Now”, gamers will be able to stream their favorite PlayStation exclusive titles from various console generations, all for a subscription fee. What’s perhaps best of all, is that this streaming service also extends to PC gamers, effectively bridging a very wide gap for many budget-based players. Such services would allow players to enjoy PlayStation titles without having to purchase the system or game themselves.
Myself, I originally purchased an Xbox 360 in the previous generation of consoles and proceeded to trick it out with every game I came across. As a result, when the prices dropped for the PlayStation 3, after the launch of the PlayStation 4, I had limited incentive to purchase the PS3, as many of the games I desired I already owned on the Xbox 360. Exclusives are not always enough to buy an entire console for, I discovered. However, a service like PlayStation Now, would allow me to play a series like The Last of Us, that I’ve been coveting for years, in addition to older titles I may never have purchased for my now-dusty PlayStation 2. While the benefits seem endless on paper, don’t throw your discs away into the Boston Harbor or cancel your game downloads just yet.
While there are loads of great potentials to these new game delivery methods, drawbacks remain. Xbox One’s streaming service, the “Xbox Game Pass”, for example, only allows players to stream titles on an Xbox One console, losing out on one of the great features of the PlayStation Now service. Conversely, PlayStation Now currently only offers older generation games, while the Xbox Game Pass offers current-gen titles. Much like paying for different TV shows or movies from streaming media providers, perhaps differences like these are par for the course?
Gamers will likely need to seek various methods in order to gain access to the titles they want. In the same vein, there’s also the issue of streaming services removing titles. We’ve seen it happen countless times with Netflix or Hulu – your favorite show is pulled before you have a chance to binge-watch it a third time. Could you imagine the outrage a gamer would face when losing access to a game they’ve slowly picked away at, just before they finally got to get all of their achievements or to beat the game at all? I shudder to think of the technology what would be destroyed that day.
Similarly, rage could easily settle in for gamers who face the buffering boss. While we can all accept that buffering occurs in online media streaming, are we ready to face unavoidable lag caused by streaming our games? Streaming services not only need their own networking technology up to snuff, but also require players to have solid connections on their own end. Additionally, let us not forget that some countries have data caps on their internet services, and large amounts of high-quality streaming may actually be impossible without emptying the bank over internet services.
Is it all worth it? Depending on your origin console of choice, internet access, and spare money, maybe. PlayStation Now currently offers one-month memberships, three-month memberships, and annual memberships. One month costs $19.99 US vs. $100 for the year. Comparatively, the Xbox Game Pass costs $9.99 US for unlimited access to their streaming games library. Depending on what you want out of the streaming service, it can be a great investment. However, on paper, it certainly seems like PlayStation Now has some catching up to do, at least on price-to-product value delivery purely based on the subscription fee. However, if you’re a primarily PC gamer like myself, and want to check out some PlayStation 3 games you missed out on in the previous console generation, it’s the perfect opportunity to explore.
There’s a lot of potential for game streaming services as they continue to be developed on current-gen consoles. While there are a lot of kinks to work out, we can hope to see the development of Netflix-quality level distribution as time goes forward. It may be too much to hope that a single service could acquire rights for digital streaming distribution (i.e. through Steam), but we can at least hope that developers look at their competition and work to bring desirable features to their own brands.
Xbox could take a page from PlayStation’s book, and bring older titles alongside PC access for their streaming services, while PlayStation ought to lower its price and add current-gen titles to their streaming library. Either way, I’m keeping my bandwidth open, and my eyes peeled for streaming developments. And who knows, maybe the next title I get to immerse myself in will be The Last Of Us after all.
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