In the diverse world of video games, cloud gaming has become an important topic. Instead of high-end PCs for optimal viewing, people are turning to games from the cloud. The advantage of this is that the data no longer has to be stored on the computer, but is instead in the digital cloud. This significantly increases the simplicity of gaming.
There are industries in which gaming without downloading and memory usage has long been widespread. For example, those who gamble on games like Eye of Horus at a gaming provider don’t need to install software or own any outstanding hardware.
But what does this mean for the world of computer and gambling games? Are high-end computers threatened with extinction and will we soon only gamble in the cloud?
Theory vs. practice – is cloud gaming really enough?
A look at the forecasts confirms that cloud gaming is experiencing significant growth and is gaining ground worldwide. The advantages are obvious: gaming is possible on any device that is connected to the Internet. This is already the first challenge for gamers. A stable Internet connection is a prerequisite for using the new possibilities efficiently.
There have already been several tests by well-known magazines, which showed that even 50 MB/s can be too little. Judging by the broadband expansion in Germany, cloud gaming is not yet available nationwide due to this fact alone. If the Internet connection is not stable enough, frame drops, irritations and delays occur in the game.
This can have serious consequences for shooters and other real-time games. The main problem is and remains latency. Depending on how far away the provider’s server is and how stable your Internet connection is, latencies of 100 ms are not uncommon. Such conditions are not suitable for multiplayer games and the gaming fun is lost.
Offline gaming – not possible with cloud gaming
Another issue is gamers who like to play their games independently of the Internet. Once installed on the computer, most single-player games can be played without a connection to the Internet. Cloud gaming basically requires Internet availability; if there are outages, you can’t play.
Those who are active in the eSports sector and train offline for their missions can suffer considerable damage to their training progress due to an Internet outage. In addition, professional gamers should not make themselves dependent on the availability of a server. If problems occur and games are suddenly unavailable, no gameplay is possible.
Hardware-based gaming therefore still remains an issue, especially but not exclusively in the professional sector. It is not expected that cloud gaming will be targeted in the eSports industry. Growth is more likely to come from recreational gamers, provided the capacity of the Internet line makes a stable connection to the cloud possible.
Conclusion: If you don’t have a good Internet line, you won’t be happy with cloud gaming
A stable and, above all, secure Internet connection is the mandatory prerequisite for having fun with cloud gaming. Especially real-time gamers have big problems if the latency is prolonged due to poor connection quality. In games that require a high level of responsiveness, milliseconds can decide the course of the entire game.
Although the expansion of broadband and fiber-optic networks in Germany is progressing rapidly, not every Internet line is designed for providers like Google Stadia and Co. by a long shot. So it’s not foreseeable that the high-end PC will die out in the future. But even if the line is no longer the problem, there is another good reason for hardware-based gaming.
High-level graphics cards and the monitors designed for them can almost always produce a much better image than the smartphone, tablet or TV when used as a monitor. So, for games like the recently released “Starfield” from Bethesda, it is worth relying on the good old hardware.
