OnLive and Gaikai are a glimpse of the ”distant future of gaming in the cloud.” There are obstacles to overcome like high-speed Internet, as ”most of America doesn’t live in a city”.
These cloud gaming platforms don’t tend to be interested in titles that aren’t triple-A either, meaning smaller budget PC projects wouldn’t survive? Prince thinks so right now.
”You will be seeing things in the Xbox platform that’s cloud-specific,” Prince told GDC China. ”I’m already doing it, it’s really exciting, but I can’t tell you about it or else I’ll get fired.” Microsoft is set to introduce cloud storage for Xbox Live users soon, which compliments their SkyDrive feature with Windows Live accounts.
Prince went on to talk a little about OnLive and Gaikai. ”These are really gaming platforms as a service,” he said. ”There are some limitations here, but I really do think this is the distant future of gaming in the cloud.”
Internet speeds available to consumers and survival beyond blockbuster PC titles is an issue: ”If you’re not in that space, they don’t want to talk to you as much. Another problem is that your gamers need high speed internet access. That’s fine if you live in a city, but most of America doesn’t live in a city, for example,” noted Prince.
Sony reserves cloud saving for PlayStation Plus subscribers for PlayStation 3, and Vita when it launches.
