Amazon will create its own game streaming platform?
Amazon is another company that will invest in game streaming. This is what The Information service suggests, according to which the video game platform of the American company can be launched next year.
In 2018 we heard about further initiatives related to the possibility of streaming games. In February we learned about the existence of Project Yeti (much later officially announced as Project Stream) from Google, and at the end of the year Microsoft revealed Project XCloud. We also know about Project Atlas from Electronic Arts, and soon another player may join the game. The Information service reports that Amazon is preparing its own platform to play in the cloud. The site refers to two independent sources, according to which the company conducts talks with publishers in order to obtain starting titles. The service itself would be launched not earlier than in 2020.
The basic assumption of streaming games is simple: the production is started on a unit located elsewhere, which sends the image to the player's device on the fly and receives information about the commands (mouse movements, button presses, etc.). In theory, this allows you to play in any title with maximum detail, regardless of your equipment. In practice, there are some difficulties like delay of the transmitted image, and also deterioration of the image quality as a result of compression.
Of course, it would be naive to trust such rumors without any evidence. It should be remembered, however, that it was The Information that posted the first info about the Google project, which could confirm the reliability of the service's sources. What's more, these reports can be linked to the list of employees sought by Amazon. The company wants to hire two people to work on "games in the cloud", as well as an SI engineer to create "a game that no one has ever seen before". Another offer mentions the link between the offered position and the "undisclosed AAA gaming business". Add to this the company's previous experiments, such as The Unmaking demo shown in 2014. This is still not enough to determine the truthfulness of the information, but it cannot be denied that something is in the works.
It's not difficult to understand why Amazon might be interested in playing in the cloud. The company has been trying to enter the electronic entertainment market for a long time, but - apart from taking over the popular Twitch - it has not managed to stand out from the more experienced competition so far. Meanwhile, the game streaming market is still in its infancy, and the existing PlayStation Now services are struggling with considerable problems: poorer image quality and a slight but significant delay in displaying it (the so-called input lag). In theory, these are not issues that cannot be solved by large corporations, but it requires huge financial outlays and appropriate technological background. Amazon can certainly provide both, at least on an equal footing with its competitors. The company has servers almost all over the world, and without this it is difficult to think about streaming games on a larger scale (too much distance between players and servers means huge delays, making the game practically impossible to play).
The very concept of playing in the cloud is very tempting. The ability to run every game in maximum detail on almost any hardware - even smartphones - certainly appeals to many players. Publishers also have a keen interest in this solution, although not everyone shares the enthusiasm of Yves Guillemot, CEO of Ubisoft. Phil Spencer from Microsoft considered streaming games as just another "option" for gamers, while Nintendo’s Reggie Fils-Aimé, representing the U.S., does not believe in the success of this technology in the near future. In fact, we will see in the coming years how this situation is going to change.
