Game on: Google looks set to transform Internet game play
Print Edition
Google is looking to transform Internet-age game play, with an expected launch of a streaming service which uses the tech giant’s power in the Internet cloud.
Tomorrow is expected to see the debut of a ramped-up version of a cloud gaming platform Google tested recently in partnership with Ubisoft.
A video clip teasing a keynote presentation at the annual Game Developers Conference in San Francisco invites people to “Gather around as we unveil Google’s vision for the future of gaming.”
The clip cycles through an accelerating collage of scenes one might find in video games, but says nothing about what Google will announce at the event, which will be live-streamed on YouTube.
Google collaborated with French video game colossus Ubisoft to use the hit “Assassin’s Creed” franchise to test “Project Stream” technology for hosting the kind of quick, seamless play powered by in-home consoles as an online service.
A select number of people in the US were able to play “Assassin’s Creed Odyssey” streamed to Chrome browsers on desktop or laptop computers.
A recently uncovered patent that Google filed for a video game controller hinted that the tech firm might be planning to release its own console and controller to go along with a streaming service.
Video games are following television and music into the cloud, with console-quality play on its way to being a streaming service as easy to access as Netflix or Spotify.
Computing power in data centers and devices from televisions to smartphones has surged and streaming technology has advanced, providing tools to break blockbuster titles from confines of consoles or personal computers.
Google, whose YouTube video service operates an eSports platform for viewing game competitions, will be entering a sector with other powerful competitors including Sony and Microsoft.
Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella said late last year that an “xCloud” streaming service was in “early days.”
Microsoft’s Xbox consoles and games unit are big business for the Redmond, Washington-based technology titan, which has been adapting to modern lifestyles in which software is hosted as a service online and tapped into using whichever gadgets people prefer. Video game titan Electronic Arts also has laid out its vision of streaming video games.
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