GOOGLE STADIA, AUSTRALIA AND THE IMPENDING GAME-STREAMING WAR

The future may well prove that OnLive was ahead of its time. Like Timothy Dalton’s serious Bond take before Daniel Craig, or Boss before House of Cards, OnLive may have been that necessary sacrificial trailblazer whose death leads to the next down-the-track leap. For those unaware, OnLive was the first game-streaming service of note. It’s now gone the way of the dodo, but the idea was as straightforward then as it is today for surviving services: instant on. No need to physically own a game. No need for a high-end PC or the latest console. Just a compatible device and a high-speed internet connection.The catch is that game-streaming services require adequate, stable bandwidth to be playable. When OnLive fired all its employees in 2012, Australia’s average internet speed was an abysmal 4.2Mbps. It’s likely why OnLive and other still-alive services like Sony’s PlayStation Now or the online component of Nvidia’s GeForce Now never made it to Australian shores. OnLive’s DNA may still live on, though, given that Sony bought the service before shuttering it. Sony will no doubt launch some kind of streaming service for PlayStation 5 - PlayStation Now branded or otherwise - and it certainly won’t be alone. EA also has an unnamed game-streaming service in the works. Microsoft has xCloud. But the current big name in what might become gaming’s next big thing is Google Stadia, which is due to launch in select countries this November.