4 ms·

Cloud gaming will always be hampered by the simple reality of really of poor internet connections being very common.

hammyhavoc 3y ago
20m people use Xbox cloud gaming. NVIDIA GeForce Now has 25m users. I'd say those are some stats worthy of appreciation.
- dtx1 3y ago
  Worthy of appreciation maybe but no one is gonna reasonably play things like CSGO on a cloud server. The difference due to latency is instantly noticeable and very obvious.
  - hammyhavoc 3y ago
    I addressed this here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36057449 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36057449 It's also bold to assume that everybody plays twitchy FPS. CSGO runs on Linux, the Steam Deck uses Linux in the OOBE, I'm sure that if push comes to shove and MS stops offering native Windows, people who want to play CSGO will just use Linux in the same way that people use emulators and FPGAs and CRT PVMs (hello) to play what they want and have the best experience. However, what's probably more likely is that latency-dependent games becomes less and less popular if cloud gaming takes over, because more people are probably going to be playing a game that's included in their cheap monthly subscription rather than spending $XY. Making a twitchy niche latency-dependent game makes less sense than reaching as many people as possible where they're playing. I can't imagine a world where Microsoft kills native Windows though, it just doesn't make sense. How environmentally friendly it is or is not is also a consideration with streaming a desktop.
    - dtx1 3y ago
      > It's also bold to assume that everybody plays twitchy FPS. Never said "everybody" but enough do. https://steamcharts.com/app/730 https://steamcharts.com/app/730 Current active players 1,458,036 for CSGO alone
      - hammyhavoc 3y ago
        But this doesn't negate the fact that cloud gaming works for a lot of genres and a lot of people. That market will likely only grow, and in that scenario, will likely become what most publishers try to cater for as that's where the worthwhile money is. Look at how many competitive FPS have tried to take on CSGO and have failed since its launch. CSGO is very much the gold-standard of its genre. Despite modern PC gaming largely being a better experience (minus bad ports, buggy launches), consoles still sell in huge numbers. If cloud gaming grows, I expect it to replace consoles for a lot of people. Even now, rather than download a game to my living room Xbox, I'll just stream the game via the cloud to it. However, if I'm sat up close with a game at my desk, of course I'll install it on my PC. But at x feet away from my TV in the living room, whatever is lacking visually or in terms of latency, I'm not gonna care about when my input device isn't exactly all that performant. I dare say that about sums it up for a lot of people using the cloud to game. This is without even bringing up the number of Nintendo Switch games that are streaming-only as the console can't handle it natively. Doesn't seem to bother Switch owners much.
        dtx1 3y ago
        Wall of text, short answer: Both will continue to exist and as long as enough people want to play games like CSGO we will have local pc gaming and thus linux desktop systems

20m people use Xbox cloud gaming. NVIDIA GeForce Now has 25m users. I'd say those are some stats worthy of appreciation.

dtx1 3y ago
Worthy of appreciation maybe but no one is gonna reasonably play things like CSGO on a cloud server. The difference due to latency is instantly noticeable and very obvious.
- hammyhavoc 3y ago
  I addressed this here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36057449 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36057449 It's also bold to assume that everybody plays twitchy FPS. CSGO runs on Linux, the Steam Deck uses Linux in the OOBE, I'm sure that if push comes to shove and MS stops offering native Windows, people who want to play CSGO will just use Linux in the same way that people use emulators and FPGAs and CRT PVMs (hello) to play what they want and have the best experience. However, what's probably more likely is that latency-dependent games becomes less and less popular if cloud gaming takes over, because more people are probably going to be playing a game that's included in their cheap monthly subscription rather than spending $XY. Making a twitchy niche latency-dependent game makes less sense than reaching as many people as possible where they're playing. I can't imagine a world where Microsoft kills native Windows though, it just doesn't make sense. How environmentally friendly it is or is not is also a consideration with streaming a desktop.
  - dtx1 3y ago
    > It's also bold to assume that everybody plays twitchy FPS. Never said "everybody" but enough do. https://steamcharts.com/app/730 https://steamcharts.com/app/730 Current active players 1,458,036 for CSGO alone
    - hammyhavoc 3y ago
      But this doesn't negate the fact that cloud gaming works for a lot of genres and a lot of people. That market will likely only grow, and in that scenario, will likely become what most publishers try to cater for as that's where the worthwhile money is. Look at how many competitive FPS have tried to take on CSGO and have failed since its launch. CSGO is very much the gold-standard of its genre. Despite modern PC gaming largely being a better experience (minus bad ports, buggy launches), consoles still sell in huge numbers. If cloud gaming grows, I expect it to replace consoles for a lot of people. Even now, rather than download a game to my living room Xbox, I'll just stream the game via the cloud to it. However, if I'm sat up close with a game at my desk, of course I'll install it on my PC. But at x feet away from my TV in the living room, whatever is lacking visually or in terms of latency, I'm not gonna care about when my input device isn't exactly all that performant. I dare say that about sums it up for a lot of people using the cloud to game. This is without even bringing up the number of Nintendo Switch games that are streaming-only as the console can't handle it natively. Doesn't seem to bother Switch owners much.
      - dtx1 3y ago
        Wall of text, short answer: Both will continue to exist and as long as enough people want to play games like CSGO we will have local pc gaming and thus linux desktop systems