Why Video Game Industry Pushes Cloud-Based Gaming

Playing video games used to be simple. You bought, borrowed, or rented a cartridge, gave it a good blow to “get the dust out”, and popped it in your system.The advent of connected consoles, growth of digital distribution, and departure from physical media have muddied the waters. You can play games in more ways than ever before, but it isn’t necessary “easy” for consumers or developers to figure out the best way to buy and sell. And it’s about to get even more complicated.At GDC 2019, Google pulled back the curtain on its upcoming streaming platform, Stadia. We know very little, with price and monetization structure (ownership versus subscription) just a couple of the blank spots on the canvas left to be painted in.Google enters the race against Electronic Arts, Sony, Microsoft, and a bevy of other companies confirmed and rumored to be working on streaming solutions. Whether one of them (if any) manage to make it work is anyone’s guess and entirely dependent on technology that mitigates less-than-ideal broadband infrastructure and a revenue structure that supports developers across genres and play styles.