Honestly I hope that game streaming doesn't become mainstream ever, it could mean the end of traditional game ownership. And I think that input lag will always be a thing even with better network speed.

What handheld have you got?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Traditional game ownership already ended once after the popularization of digital downloads, but you're right, it could end all over again in an even more dire way if cloud gaming gets popularized as well.

[–] martino 3 points 1 year ago

I think there's always going to be a demand for games running on local hardware, in the same way there's always demand for high end GPUs/monitors/etc even if it's only a small proportion of gamers who are actually willing to fork out for it. So I don't think PC or consoles are going anywhere.

I do think it's inevitable that Cloud gaming will get bigger and bigger though. In fact I'm sure that over the next decade or so it'll probably overtake the existing medium in terms of market share. The convenience and low cost of it will be enough to offset the drawbacks for a huge number of users.

[–] echoplex21 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Logistically I’m really not sure how companies can promise a consistent experience with input lag considering you have to live close to data centers. Unless they’re gonna build them all around the country lol. Their tech for streaming I feel is very inferior from Nvidia and Even Stadia at the time.

I think for the next at least half decade, it’ll be a supplemental perk to GPU and nothing more. I don’t see it ending traditional game ownership just yet. Unfortunately the way digital purchase has been so widely adopted, we’re already halfway there. The used game market has slowly dwindled over the years.

I have the ROG Ally and I’m loving it. I’ve always been a console gamer and this finally converted me.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Yeah, it is probably not happening soon.

True, with DRM we can't really be owner of the game that's why DRM free game are the best, and at least even with DRM games in some case games can be played offline, they can be cracked too, but with streaming there would be no more piracy, and no more access without internet and a subscription, and modding would be also impossible.

Nice, I have a Steam Deck and it is awesome that we can play that much games on a handheld device.