Defaulting to streaming services is a terrible idea given current bandwidth limitations

[hanselthecaretaker]

Wtf...*sigh* [https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/13/18677905/e3-2019-xbox-ubisoft-square-enix-google-stadia-phil-spencer?_gl=1*12rvg49*]

Never mind the ever-present issue of never owning content, let alone what do you do any time there is a network issue? Going all-in is bound to be a nightmare strategy for these companies who seem eager to put the cart before the horse.

Then you have the enthusiasts who look forward to true 4K/8k visuals at 60fps with theater quality sound. How the hell are they going to pull that off when currently only a fraction of their user bases choose the streaming option at much lower quality, and even that is sketchy? Is input lag even factored into the equation?

Chalk this idea up to a giant I?ll believe it when I see it.

 

[Worgen]

Not to mention that latency really impacts things, I mean I can feel some latency just connecting to my steam link and that is on the same network segment, it would only get worse going between different networks.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Well, my Internet is down; maybe I'll pass the time playing some single-player games... oh, wait, using Stadia means I can't play those either.

 

[meiam]

Here how it went down

Exec: Look at all the cash Netflix is making, we need a part of that pie!
Lackey: Well there's already a bunch of imitator.
E: That true. What else is usually done on a TV/smartphone?
L: Well lots of people play game.
E: Perfect, we'll be the netflix of game.

 

[Avnger]

Wtf...*sigh* [https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/13/18677905/e3-2019-xbox-ubisoft-square-enix-google-stadia-phil-spencer?_gl=1*12rvg49*]

Never mind the ever-present issue of never owning content, let alone what do you do any time there is a network issue? Going all-in is bound to be a nightmare strategy for these companies who seem eager to put the cart before the horse.

Then you have the enthusiasts who look forward to true 4K/8k visuals at 60fps with theater quality sound. How the hell are they going to pull that off when currently only a fraction of their user bases choose the streaming option at much lower quality, and even that is sketchy? Is input lag even factored into the equation?

Chalk this idea up to a giant I?ll believe it when I see it.

The largest problem comes from the people pushing these ideas and even the ones developing these ideas live in an entirely different world infrastructure-wise. They, by and large, will have services like uncapped gigabit fiber internet at a decent price (and the wages to afford it) available to them. When you live in an area like that, socialize with others who almost exclusively live like that, and work in an area like that, it's really easy to simply forget that 99% of the US (nevermind the entirely different infrastructure levels present in each country worldwide) don't live similarly.

 

[Eacaraxe_v1legacy]

The largest problem comes from the people pushing these ideas and even the ones developing these ideas live in an entirely different world infrastructure-wise.

Yeah. It's another in an excruciatingly-long list of case examples of Silicon Valley thinking Silicon Valley is the center of the universe. They're pretty much developing, releasing, and marketing a product for their sole benefit. The most infuriating part is, they clearly thought this through as their initial release markets just so happen to only be regions and countries with infrastructure ideal to support their product, as opposed to "real-world" conditions where most people who play video games live.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

The largest problem comes from the people pushing these ideas and even the ones developing these ideas live in an entirely different world infrastructure-wise.

Yeah. It's another in an excruciatingly-long list of case examples of Silicon Valley thinking Silicon Valley is the center of the universe. They're pretty much developing, releasing, and marketing a product for their sole benefit. The most infuriating part is, they clearly thought this through as their initial release markets just so happen to only be regions and countries with infrastructure ideal to support their product, as opposed to "real-world" conditions where most people who play video games live.

It?s just surprising they?re this inept when they?re apparently smart enough to make billions as it is. Let?s see what they say when sales take a nose dive and critical mass is nowhere to be found, on top of all the R&D pissed away on these services.

 

[sXeth]

I mean, yes.

Then again, it was for TV too, and that barrages on.

And don't even get me started how many times I've had to get callers at my tech support job to turn off the Voice over Data calling their carrier turned on for them (and Verizon recently seems to have locked the feature on, so have fun dropping calls if you're on a dodgier part of their network coverage).

Oh and right, uh Steam. Steam's a fun one, because it prettymuch singlehandedly locked me out of PC gaming for almost a decade because it was totally infeasible to download games (And updates) over a period of days or weeks with the service available. Nevermind going over a bandwidth cap and having to pay the cost of a game again in overages.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

Here's some pretty good insight into how these streaming services aren't even close to there yet:


Around the 3:20 mark he talks about his experience with nvidia's geforce now and how he tried it under "optimal" circumstances and how even then it was a laggy mess and the nvidia reps were actually proud of how it was running.

These streaming services seem to be catering to the lowest common denominator of gamers, either people who don't know what a certain game is supposed to feel like because they have little experience with games, or people who don't play any timing or reflex based games at all (the kind of people who bought a Wii as their one and only console), however that directly clashes with their business model which seems to be trying to sell this to hardcore gamers who would immediately know if a game is running sub-optimally. Most of the people who are aware of these services are also the kind of people who want 60fps 4k to be standard.