Google Could Start Streaming Games

By: Max Cannon

Technology is constantly evolving and the latest advancements in tech keep video games fresh and exciting. With rumors of new consoles kicking around and E3 just around the corner, it's time to speculate about the future of gaming tech and how new companies could start leaving a bigger impact. 

Google could lead the charge into streaming games.

Possible News at GDC

GDC, the Game Developer's Conference, is an event where the brilliant people actually responsible for the games we play will meet up and talk about their process. There are a few panels hosted by some massive companies including Google and Microsoft and both of which have hinted at what we can expect from their appearance. For example, Microsoft has announced a GDC panel about their expansion of Xbox Live to systems and devices beyond just Xbox consoles. Some have even speculated that Microsoft could continue their team-up with Nintendo and bring Xbox Live to Nintendo Switch, what could that mean? Who knows? Achievements, Xbox servers, or Xbox games? Nothing is confirmed yet but we'll certainly hear something interesting at their panel.

Xbox Live on the Nintendo Switch?

Google's panel has much more mystery around it. The company behind the massive search engine has been sending out invites to members of the gaming press about their GDC event. Though we don't have any details beyond that, Google and gaming have centered around one thing: streaming. Sometime last year, Google began sending out free trials to play Assassin's Creed Odyssey through its cloud streaming service that hasn't actually released yet. Gamers were mostly positive about their experience so it seems like a perfect time for Google to prepare us for their "Netflix for Games."

Late last year, Xbox revealed their plans to stream games in the future.

What is Game Streaming?

It's a good time to get up to speed on what exactly "game streaming" is because you're going to hear a lot about it in the future. When you stream a video online, whether on YouTube, Twitch, or Netflix, then you're not actually saving the video on your device but you're viewing it from a server. When streaming a video game you're not just streaming the video but you're also sending your button inputs across the internet, it's also live video and not a pre-recorded one like you'd see on Netflix or Hulu. So that will definitely take some POWERFUL internet to make happen. However, these big tech companies seem confident that they'll be able to make things accessible.

Though a little laggy, PlayStation Now has existed since the PS3 era.

As technology improves, internet speeds increase, and things become more efficient, it's clear that game streaming is the future but how far away are we from that future? Based on developments from PlayStation, Xbox, and Google, we could be closer than ever to streaming taking over gaming just as it did with TV and movies. For now, we'll just have to wait for these tech-giants to reveal what exactly it is that they're working on. Personally, I'm hoping that we'll be able to stream all of our games for the same cost as a month of Netflix. The future of gaming is looking bright.

Share Your Thoughts!

What do you want from the future of gaming technology? Do you see yourself streaming games or just playing the older fashioned way? Share your thoughts below!