How'd you like if Nintendo/PlayStation/Xbox became gaming stream services?

[WiiCube_2013]

Provided you'd have a proper internet package to have the stream run smoothly would it be something that could perhaps interest you in the future?

Think of it like Netflix but rather than movies and series it'd be games only.

For myself I wouldn't mind going with it as long as the subscription service included a good chunk of quality games (or all available for X price). You know, with the future going digital and VR having physical games is becoming part of the past and games nowadays don't even come with a manual any more, it's just a pamphlet.

Take PlayStation Plus for example, the free full games that the customers get are only rentals only because once the subscription expires they're gone, though on the plus side they are already downloaded so no need to stream it.

 

[ut2k4master]

i would totally be up for that. like playstation now, only with a better selection/all games

 

[chavosaur]

Id be 100% on board if everything ran smooth and the titles offered stayed up to date.

I think the current platform of Playstation Now is interesting, but overpriced and Unstable as of yet, I would love to see improvements slowly be made to it to offer an amazing streaming experience.

I mean, streaming basically knocked cable TV out of my house. With Hulu Plus, CrunchyRoll, and HBONow, I can watch literally everything that comes out same day on cable, in HD, for less than half of what we used to pay for cable.

If gaming can get to that point one day, I'd never look at a physical disc again.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Meh. I wouldn't care if it's a thing, but neither would I ever use it. There are too many things that could go wrong with services like this, whether it's price, stability, game selection, input lag, vulnerability to script kiddies and their DDOS's, the incredibly terrible state of ISPs in most of the world etc etc. If tech gets to a point where all of the above is irrelevant, then yeah I'd use it. But since that's a long shot...

 

[Hungry Friend]

Tom beat me to my own argument pretty much but yeah, what if a company goes under or something and the service ceases to exist? I want either physical copies of my games or 100% DRM-free downloadable copies that can easily be backed up, but the way things are headed those 2 things are likely to become things of the past within the next decade. I want to actually own my games, but I can see the advantages of a streaming service, ie not paying full price for each game but it's simply too unreliable and as Tom said, internet connections around the world aren't good enough yet. Making such services an option is fine, but if it's the only option, no thanks.

 

[Taleweaver]

I voted 'maybe'. In its current state, it's definitely a no. I have a monthly limit, and while it's pretty large, if all my gaming went through streaming, it'd add up. Then there's the speed of the line (which I really don't think is stable enough to warrant smooth gameplay for FPS'es, fighting games and other games where a huge FPS makes an actual difference), and that in order to be profitable for them, they'll need a massive userbase, meaning also a massive PC-park to actually RUN those to-be-streamed games.

I know, I know: all these are technical issues, but even if they can somehow fix all these (though this isn't a "Moore's law will fix it" kind of issue), I seriously doubt the gaming industry will massively jump on the bandwagon when it comes to NEW games.


But even if I attempt to ignore all these issues and there's a netflix-like gaming channel. Would I get it? It's still a maybe. Depends on things, I assume. A game I absolutely want to play. Good feedback from others. Something like that. If someone told me in the early 2000's that within ten years, I would buy all the games I pirated back then on a digital platform that would only work if I logged into their network, I would've laughed at them. But steam convinced me. Here: likewise. Onlive didn't spark my interest or overcame the obstacles. But who knows what the future might bring...?

Tom beat me to my own argument pretty much but yeah, what if a company goes under or something and the service ceases to exist? I want either physical copies of my games or 100% DRM-free downloadable copies that can easily be backed up, but the way things are headed those 2 things are likely to become things of the past within the next decade.

Out of curiosity: do you avoid steam as well? I understand these fears, but I still often buy from steam rather than from GoG. You can say I (and many users with me) gamble that steam will continue to exist for forever.

 

[RolfXCIV]

I'd really like if in a few years time we had on a console or television all the main digital distribution services, like Steam and Good Old Games. The exclusives would be between distribution services instead of physical consoles, it'd still bring the sense of competition and profit but everyone could exploit the best of each service. I'm not writing about streaming service, but buying and renting with standardized prices. They'd all contribute to a storing service for us to keep our games, and download them again if need be; this way, if one service ceases to exist or has problems, we can still access our games. I don't know anything about the current distribution services or the current limitations to what I said, but I expect that in a few years time these limitations disappear; probably, to give way to others.

Personally, I'd love for this service to exist in great quality for all kinds of media. If it allowed us to get digital versions of the games we already have at home, I'd gladly even give them away. As I don't have access to good or popular streaming services where I live, I never tried them nor do I know their advantages.

 

[TecXero]

I already have problems with the heavy handed DRM with digital games on consoles/handhelds, and I hate how PC gaming has almost completely gone for Steam DRM. I will hang onto my physical copies and/or DRM-free copies as long as I can. I don't like the idea of relying on external service. Their servers could go down for any reason, my connection could go down for any reason, who knows how long the service will last, and I just don't trust faceless companies.

My old SNES games still work fine in any (working) SNES. They aren't bound to a specific SNES and I can dump them to be able to play them on better hardware for a subjectively better experience. When I buy a game, I expect that game to be with me for many years to come.

 

[Hungry Friend]

Out of curiosity: do you avoid steam as well? I understand these fears, but I still often buy from steam rather than from GoG. You can say I (and many users with me) gamble that steam will continue to exist for forever.

My PC atm is slow as shit and that's the only reason I currently avoid Steam, but once I upgrade I'll probably use it at least occasionally. It is a gamble but there are simply more games(namely recent ones) on Steam, but yeah DRM sucks ass so it's a double-edged sword. I'm a bit old fashioned in that I prefer DRM-free downloadable copies or physical copies, but I'm more of a console gamer. The only DRM-free downloadable games I play are ROMs because this computer is pretty much an emulation machine.

I already have problems with the heavy handed DRM with digital games on consoles/handhelds, and I hate how PC gaming has almost completely gone for Steam DRM. I will hang onto my physical copies and/or DRM-free copies as long as I can. I don't like the idea of relying on external service. Their servers could go down for any reason, my connection could go down for any reason, who knows how long the service will last, and I just don't trust faceless companies.

My old SNES games still work fine in any (working) SNES. They aren't bound to a specific SNES and I can dump them to be able to play them on better hardware for a subjectively better experience. When I buy a game, I expect that game to be with me for many years to come.

I'm in pretty much the same situation(SNES still works) but add emulation of broken consoles/Japan-only games to that list as well, and Steam's DRM does scare me some although once I upgrade my PC, I'll probably use it when there are sales. I completely agree with your general sentiment though; I want to own physical copies of my games so I can play them as long as they disc/Cart/whatever still functions.

Emulation is the next best thing if your game or console breaks since you can burn backups of emus/ROMs without any restrictions.

 

[RevPokemon]

I'm interested but only if it is
A) no lag
B) reasonably priced
C) good selection of games

 

[RustInPeace]

Tom beat me to my own argument pretty much but yeah, what if a company goes under or something and the service ceases to exist? I want either physical copies of my games or 100% DRM-free downloadable copies that can easily be backed up, but the way things are headed those 2 things are likely to become things of the past within the next decade. I want to actually own my games, but I can see the advantages of a streaming service, ie not paying full price for each game but it's simply too unreliable and as Tom said, internet connections around the world aren't good enough yet. Making such services an option is fine, but if it's the only option, no thanks.

I resemble this opinion, I prefer having physical games. It's why I don't indulge in emulation, despite it being free. I'm interested in Steam though, and it's the next best thing to a physical copy. I'll settle for download only titles too, as I have for Shovel Knight and Virtual Console fare like Legend of Zelda. In the end, physical is where it's at. As much as I rely on computers and hard drives, it feels safer to have a physical copy in a case or some container. Besides it looks cooler when presenting a collection, whether it be a stacked pile like I have, or neatly organized in a shelf.

 

[Arras]

What about a service that downloaded and ran chunks of the game while downloading the needed parts in the background instead of just streaming the screen? That way you wouldn't have the latency issue (still the data limit though). I think there was actually a company working on this.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

What about a service that downloaded and ran chunks of the game while downloading the needed parts in the background instead of just streaming the screen? That way you wouldn't have the latency issue (still the data limit though). I think there was actually a company working on this.

Sony does this for the larger digital PS4 games (I played Killzone: Shadow Fall like that), and Steam tried a test thing for this for Mortal Kombat X. The biggest problem with something like this is being able to complete a level or a chunk or whatever quicker than you can download the game. You might get through level 1 in 10 minutes, and level 2 could still have another 20 minutes to download which you would then be stuck waiting for. A lot of open world games probably wouldn't work well with this, either, since you would have to load in the entire map and such, so it'd have to be limited to games that only have different, independent chunks in a game (like Mortal Kombat or the campaign of a shooter or something).

 

[OncRN]

Depends on the price...I always thought Nintendo could really boost sales/interest by providing their entire games catalog as an on-demand type service. Users could pick a plan based on how many games per week/month, with an option to buy as well. Of course, there's the question of allowing save data...in case you want to pick a game back up after a couple months of hiatus.

As far as the DRM issues, customers are going to have to stop playing into the traps of the various companies. This is why I like hack/emu so much. It provides an opportunity to re-live lost classics, even if everyone else thinks it's garbage. I still can't believe some of the gaming industry hasn't moved on this. Too busy pushing crapware, I imagine...

 

[TecXero]

I'm in pretty much the same situation(SNES still works) but add emulation of broken consoles/Japan-only games to that list as well, and Steam's DRM does scare me some although once I upgrade my PC, I'll probably use it when there are sales. I completely agree with your general sentiment though; I want to own physical copies of my games so I can play them as long as they disc/Cart/whatever still functions.

Emulation is the next best thing if your game or console breaks since you can burn backups of emus/ROMs without any restrictions.

I actually tend to prefer emulation when I have powerful enough hardware. Like SNES, for example, has some good games that suffer from slowdowns. Throw that on a decent emulator on decent hardware and then those slowdowns are gone.

With Steam's DRM, I see it as more of a rental service. If a game is on sale on there for a few dollars, then that's not too bad since that's around the cost of renting a game. I generally buy DRM-free copies off of Humble, GOG, or Green Man, though. Then I can have DRM-free copies/installers on my 1TB USB HDD dedicated to backup copies of games, since I can't have a DRM-free physical copy.