Google’s Stadia was plagued by issues at launch, so it offers a vision of what the future might look like as opposed to a truly compelling console alternative.
Nvidia’s GeForce Now offers a more polished product, but still suffered from a counter-intuitive UI and lag with anything less than a high-speed internet connection.
With two more PS4 and Xbox games in the works, it seems like now is the perfect time to create a dedicated platform to play them on.
Should this materialise, it feels like very exciting news for the cloud gaming sector as a whole. I’m not saying the retail giant will perfect its service – that will prove extremely difficult. But another major company investing in cloud gaming at this early stage suggests it has a bright and immediate future. Competition can only be positive as far as consumers are concerned.
A significant number of gamers seem to be willing to give up their consoles in favour of the convenience offered by cloud gaming, but not at the cost of user experience.
Currently, playing on a PS4 or Xbox One is so superior to cloud gaming services that it’s not even worth comparing the two. The PS5 and Xbox Series X only look set to extend that gap, but everyday gamers may be reluctant to drop hundreds of pounds on a new console at launch.
As the resident expert on Windows, Senior Staff Writer Anyron’s main focus is PCs and laptops. Much of the rest of his time is split between smartphones, tablets and audio, with a particular focus on Android devices.
