Support NeoGAF

[EverydayBeast]

If streaming can do with Wii did with motion, I just think internet connections are there, Netflix is here and you elevate picture quality you will reach a very very high status.

 

[quest]

What the fuck is it with gamers getting all pissy and offensive towards game pass?

It's a shit load of games for next to nothing at all. it's hours of entertainment for pennies!

No wonder the industry treats its' customers like shit. What more do you want?

Fuck me.

Pretty much but it's the usual MS hate. If Sony had the same people would go bananas here. Gamepass is awesome dirt cheap entertainment in today's world I'm in until early 2022.

 

[sixamp]

I don't care for streaming as I don't think the tech will be 100% fool proof for down time but I like the direction. As for Game pass I love it. I have it on my PC now and have been playing gears. MS just needs to get a better quality of games not quantity on there and it will be golden.

 

[JareBear: Remastered]

I've posted in a few topics about streaming and noticed a trend of naysayers denying the streaming future on our horizon.

I'm not a proponent of the all streaming future (other than for demos) I'm just one to believe that it will end up a successful business venture and that it will likely overtake traditional gaming sooner than people would hope.

Case in point - I never thought I would give up my physical game library and buy into Gamepass but here I am with a 3 year subscription after the $1 upgrade deal..

Beyond the fact I've submitted myself to not owning many of the games I planned to buy on xbox I found myself faced with the prospect of trying out dozens if not hundreds of games I might not have otherwise bothered with before I was snapped back to reality by the burden of having to download, install and update any said games.. These things are not just a mental barrier but a time and bandwidth one.

But what if I could click on any one of these games and be playing within seconds while I wait for the game proper to download in the background?... Or just stream a demo. That seems to be what xCloud is going to bring. It would then turn Gamepass into the literal Netflix of games...

That's when I realized how it's going to happen.. I thought about my collection of high def blu rays collecting dust while the lady and I elect for the ease of clicking and streaming a flick over getting up to swap in discs for the superior experience. I can see myself getting similarly lazy with many games that don't require quick reflexes and how that could become a similar trend among casual players. I can see people playing Fortnite or COD streamed on a tablet or phone anywhere they go and that blowing up the popularity of streaming services.

More and more people electing the simpler method to game is going to result in more streaming gaming investment, interest from publishers and eventually focus from the hardware manufacturers.

And this is how traditional games die... Not with a bang but with the simple click of a button.

I'm conflicted about this. On one hand I'm lazy as can be and would love to demo games easily, but I don't want the traditional market to wither away. I'm also concerned the effect a service like this could do to traditional single player experiences and game quality if people go back to digesting games like they did in the old arcade days. It would be a boon to indies but possibly diminish the breadth of AAAs not built around GAAS, though these are already in decline... Then there's all the other issues streaming brings us like a complete lack of control of content we have access to, preservation of games, more shitty monetization schemes (add another $1 for extra lives!), etc.

So before the flame posts begin is there anyone out there that agrees with this prediction of the future? Does anyone see it going down differently, or do you only see streaming falling flat on it's face?

There is no streaming future on our horizon. There is a future that has streaming options available to those who want them. It will never be the only/primary mode of consumption as long as data caps and less than stellar internet service still exist in many areas.

As for Game Pass, I think it's fuckin awesome.