This generation of console gaming hasn’t been the kind of step forward, the paradigm shift in game design, that has been associated with new console cycles in the past. All three systems this generation seem to be just more powerful versions of their predecessors.
A lot of this has to do with the fact that what was expected to create a generational shift with this console cycle was roundly rejected by gamers- Microsoft’s vision for cloud gaming. But cloud gaming definitely has potential for the future of gaming- and we are already seeing Microsoft invest in it, with the upcoming Crackdown 3, and Sony with PlayStation Now. Even Nintendo have started to discuss the potential of eventually expanding their upcoming My Nintendo service into the cloud.
But no matter how much promise cloud gaming has for the future, in general, it appears as though in the here and now, the proposition it offers is entirely unfeasible. This is a thought shared by game creators, too- we sat down to talk with Coldwood Interactive’s Martin Sahlin, who worked on the just released and the brilliant Unravel, and he, too, believes that cloud gaming and cloud assisted gaming are a ways off into the future.
“We’re not there yet- that’s as much as I can basically say,” Sahlin said. “At some point- I mean, I don’t know, I wouldn’t know how far into the future that is. It might be pretty far. But we’re definitely not there yet.”
Of course, we may get individual cloud games, like Crackdown 3– but it seems unlikely that mainstream, widespread cloud gaming is going to become a thing just yet.
Stay tuned to GamingBolt for our full interview with Martin Sahlin.
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