My UA-cam videos? Highlights of my insights - quick, engaging, and to the point. But on Substack, I unpack the full story. Subscribe for full access to all my essays with all the details that didn't make it to the video at www.belindaercan.com
Remember PSP? It was gaming bliss… until adulthood hit. With a demanding job and responsibilities piling up, those epic gaming sessions became a distant memory. Even with money to burn, the download/install grind felt like a chore, and buying entire games I might never play just left me with buyer's remorse. My gaming dreams just got postponed… But then came the game-changer: cloud gaming. Platforms like XCloud let me jump straight into the action, no downloads, no installs, just instant play. I could unwind with a quick gaming session during lunch or squeeze in a few hours on the weekend, all without the guilt of unused games gathering dust. And if my workload ramps up again? No sweat, you can cancel the subscription and come back when you have more time.
Comeback?? More like finally hitting critical mass. I only recently became aware this past summer that cloud gaming was actually playable and enjoyable. Many many people out there arent even aware its a thing, and its just a matter of time if you ask me. Its glorious & horrific at the same time.
I would rather own a nice device for gaming than suffer garbage quality that the corporations had been scamming people with a huge trash that real gamers don't wanna bother. You can have a decent $300 gaming console, just get a job or something😅
The real answer is we need OPTIONS. We need to have the physical media, the ownable media, remain readily available alongside the cloud streaming format. We already have preservation problems with older games not being made available legally by publishers, making emulation the only recourse. Not being able to own our purchases when publishers are removing content from storefronts, and even people's libraries AFTER they've already purchased it, is only going to further cement the "rent not own" concept into corporate executives' minds.
Exactly. Agree. I do mention this in the end of this video. Options need to remain, whether that’s in subscription models or access to physical hardware/games. As we’re transitioning more into all things digital, digital ownership is also being more refined, what it means, how it works; what if the servers go down? Will your digital ownership of a game still mean something? I like options too. And I think to keep the gaming world diverse, blockchain and the nft logic will play a huge role in this. (Maybe something for my next video :)
If internet get fast enough it’s always possible but if until then it can lead to input delay or others problems (I don’t mean like 2 frame differences I mean half a second) it would be interesting to watch it expand
I like your video, but I don't like the direction we're moving. But I see the pros and cons. But one huge obstacle that you don't go over, is "server capacity". The required processing power and storage space for everyone to be cloud gaming, rather than running the game on their own hardware. That will be a monumental task. I can image that AntStreamArcade started with old games, since they don't take up much space, and they're very computationally lightweight. With movies and music, it's no deal, because the content play outs the exact same for every user. Now imagine the New Call of Duty releasing ONLY on the cloud. potentially millions of separate instances (players) that needs to get rendered separetely since everyones games play out differently. They're gonna figure out some insane algorithmn or AI to be able to process that. But even though they figure all that out.... I still don't like it... maybe it's just because I grow up in a world with physical media, because that was the technology we had.
The biggest benefit of cloud streaming in my opinion is the eliminating of huge download files. Click the cloud button and you're in right away. I think we will increasingly see cloud only devices like handhelds, phones and tablets. Where the experience continues to get better as the Internet infrastructure gets stronger and 5G is fully implemented globally.
I think discussion about cloud gaming needs to talk about the largest market that consumes cloud gaming - Asia. I've worked on games that were strictly developed for mobile with the developers hoping to get early movers advantage. Its always easy to fall into the eurocentric point of view trap!
As a developer, I can't wait for cloud gaming to become the norm. Focusing on just one piece of hardware, possibly the most advanced on the market, would unlock a new level of development and save a lot of time.
I just found out about it last night when I looked on Xbox menu to see if they had all the fallout games. And I just put the cloud gaming on my phone Home Screen connected my controller to Bluetooth and I was playing. Pretty amazing and exciting to play halo and hollow knight on my phone. I’m watching this video on the toilet wishing I brought my controller
I've been using cloud gaming with Game Pass Cloud for the past year and I wouldn't go back. Give it 5 years and the vast majority of gamers will play through the cloud.
Cloud gaming is like renting a house. Would you rather own the house outright or become a paypig for some fat landlord? "Oh but what if I'm from a poor country and can't afford to buy games?" => piracy, it's worked for decades.... If only we could download a house ;-;
I sometimes use xcloud streaming when away from home for some weeks, but other than for some slow games like fallout where I can pause the game anytime for a non real-time aiming mode or other slower games the input lag is way to jarring. The tech still isn’t ready. And I actually really like to own games.
Xbox Game Pass is the only reason I still play games. the only downfall is if you decide to play an older game, half way through it they might decide to remove it with a week's notice.
Yeah I love gamepass ultimate xcloud. We have it on our samsung TV and use our old PS4 controllers (any bluetooth controller works). We connected our TV to the router, since the wifi wasnt strong enough. The service is amazing. No lag. No latency.
The Netflix of gaming will never happen cause no company are willing to let gamers play all their catalog for free via a monthly subscription fee. OnLive failed cause they aren't willing to let gamers play all the games for free via subscription and Stadia failed cause of the same thing. As long as company are treating cloud games as retail alternative, nobody will want to embrace cloud gaming. Cloud games should never be an alternative for retail games, they should be alternatives for renting games thus each games should be free to play in full as long as a monthly subscription fee is paid.
GeForce Now mid and Ultimate tiers already surpass performance of either PS5 or XBox Series S. Ultimate running off of 4090's blows the doors off of them in every way. Much stronger hardware.
Not all Cloud gaming providers. Today Stadia i remember some of the games were free some you had to buy. But i agree that in terms of Ownership it becomes a threat in the future. While i am big time pro mostly of Cloud gaming because way cheaper option than every 3-5 buying a new pc or pc parts saves the environment from electronic E waste on that case. But in terms of electricity C02 it dont does it good.
Subscriptions make a lot of people upset so so does the cloud but neither actually prevent you from owning games. Just allowing busy dad's to play our games on smaller devices wherever we are.
That's some good quality content for someone who has less then a thousand of subs ;) I'm probably looking at someone who'll blow up on YT in no time. Good luck with that! P.S. I have no idea why, but you seem like a familiar face for some reason
This is giving me some serious: "You will own nothing and will be happy" vibes. I am completely against these practices. Sure, i acknowledge the appeal that it's easy/convenient. You don't need any physical space to store your games etc... Which is all nice. Also the ecological side of things is absolutely nice. (Much less plastic in the world, less shipping = less emissions, etc,...) So that's all great. On the other hand, you won't own your games. You can't lend them out to friends/family, rent, resell or trade them. But oh wait: You don't do any of these things. GREAT for you! Now how about your fellow gamers? Another thing that comes to mind is: "Control." No, not the game. I mean, what if they decide one day that they want to take the game of the server? What about price hikes? Not only for games but for services like GamePass. Shouldn't it be fair that, because all the cost they are winning back by not having to ship out the games, making/printing the front/back covers, disc's etc... that this should go back to how it was and maybe go back to the $60 price-tag? I'm getting more and more into retro gaming. And man, i'm happy i am right on time! Because this is going downwards very quickly! I know it is stupid but i'm actually more afraid for the future of gaming than i'm excited. Then again, i am a gamer since the ATARI days. So i'm not a 16-yr. old anymore who want's the newest thing right then and now. But this is my personal opinion of course.
First of all: Thank you for your thoughts! Totally get where you're coming from. It feels like we're in a tug-of-war with big companies over who really owns the games we love etc. our games are just floating on some server in the cloud instead of sitting on our shelves. It can all feel a bit off. And as my interviewees mentioned, it is concerning. But if shit hits the fan, no one will be happy. Neither companies nor customers. Companies, in the end, have to keep US happy. We (gamers) are a pretty loud and passionate community and any uproar will be noticed and taken care of. I’m just optimistic in that sense. Regulations, laws, best practices…we have to shape them together. And, it's not like we're asking for the moon here. We just want a fair shake when it comes to owning our games and having control over them. It's all about that push and pull, and we've got more pull than we often realize.
@@BelindaErcan Agreed. The only concern of course is that, right now, if a company like XBOX with GamePass for example raises their price, we can make our voice hear and say we don't like their practices. They will need to listen because at this moment, we, as gamers can get our games somewhere else. But what if it is digital only? We can't say: "We don't like this or that" because they have the complete control. So i agree with what you say, their need to be very clear laws about this. Something that, if i buy my game digital, i'll actually own some kind of license and it's mine to keep forever. That i have some kind of licensed code that i can share or lend out to a friend/family member. I don't know, but i guess we will need something like that. Probably amongst other laws, so they can't backtrack on us and make it all undone! I want to be optimistic, i really do. I'm coming from far when it comes to gaming. Heck, i even played on a Commodore 64 at one point. I absolutely applaud evolution if it is for the better of this world. And all the ecological things could be in place. But they need to absolutely come through. Right now, i'm just sitting here with a scary feeling. Thanks for your great response btw. I'm happy you can see the "dangers" lurking around. Not everyone is like that. 🙂
Ban cloud gaming from your minds! Giving all control to evil enterprises *WILL* destroy gaming forever! Just have a look at what shit they already have done with just limited control they have on our PCs and consoles last ten years! Want to pay per minute? Yeah, go cloud! Want to have the games you rightfulyl bought being taken from you, just because your platform doesn't want to pay license fees to the studio anymore? Go cloud! Want *ALL* games to be online, with all the downsides, repeating the great 'fun' we had with past forced-onmline single player games? Go cloud! Want prices to be even more controlled by even fewer large enterprises, thus games not only becoming more expensive, but on top hacnig running cost? Go cloud! Want the then streaming platforms being without any alternative, because once there are enough people they *WILL* cancel all classic offers, like buying and actually *owning* games on your own hardware? Go cloud! Want games to become worse and worse, until all games are 'mobile quality', because that's whats making these platforms the most money? Go cloud! This *ALL* is nothing new - it's just the exact behaviour these enterprise have proven over and over for at least tne years now! And there's more .. Gamers don't be stupid! Just once in your life. Please.
Absolutely. And because of passionate people like you (and me) they have to offer cloud gaming as an option only. Options options options. No options => riled up gamer community => bad business. Cloud gaming for developing/emerging countries is top. Those who can afford 70$ for one game, top. I bought Persona 5 for 70$ on steam. I realized I don’t like it so much. Thought I would like it after watching gameplays. Now I wished i hadn’t spent it. Should have “tested” it first via cloud (if available). There are so many upsides for cloud gaming. It’s up to us to not let its downsides become the norm.
If you have a newer Series S or X it has some pros that the PS5 dont have. Its the browser that can enable making Cloud gaming possible Services like Geforce Now Boosteroid
@@BelindaErcan There's not really anything up to us. Kast four decaded have proven so. World's economica are exclusively controled by rich people and industry. For example: did you notice that for about 15 years now, there has basically no technlogy been introduced that didn't have come with multiple downsides? Like anything coming with spyware, ads and subscriptiopns now .. any way more shenanigans. Like game and movie publishers taking *bought* movies away from their customers. Like enterprises like Crappel intentionally and provenly building in parts that only have the one purpose to limti the lifetimes of a product. And other parts that are just there to make repairs impossible? Unless there's a worldwide revolution, cancelling the old and corrupt governing systems, there's no hope at all, because all the systems have been optimized to catering to the indutrial's needs and this is a still ongoing development.
Do you feel the same about Netflix and Amazon Prime? I certainly would like physical copies to remain in existence, like books. But for people like me who game casually, love a huge library, and don't really mind if a game I like vanishes from the library, cloud is a great option. Totally respect that people want to own games, so they can play offline and forever, with independance.
My UA-cam videos? Highlights of my insights - quick, engaging, and to the point.
But on Substack, I unpack the full story. Subscribe for full access to all my essays with all the details that didn't make it to the video at www.belindaercan.com
Is cloud gaming is the future? Bad gramma.
@@GMitchell2012 corrected
Thank you so much for having me on - truly an incredible job covering the history and context of cloud gaming!
Remember PSP? It was gaming bliss… until adulthood hit. With a demanding job and responsibilities piling up, those epic gaming sessions became a distant memory. Even with money to burn, the download/install grind felt like a chore, and buying entire games I might never play just left me with buyer's remorse. My gaming dreams just got postponed…
But then came the game-changer: cloud gaming. Platforms like XCloud let me jump straight into the action, no downloads, no installs, just instant play. I could unwind with a quick gaming session during lunch or squeeze in a few hours on the weekend, all without the guilt of unused games gathering dust. And if my workload ramps up again? No sweat, you can cancel the subscription and come back when you have more time.
you could work in the advertising department as a copywriter for Xbox :D (or Sony)
Comeback?? More like finally hitting critical mass. I only recently became aware this past summer that cloud gaming was actually playable and enjoyable. Many many people out there arent even aware its a thing, and its just a matter of time if you ask me. Its glorious & horrific at the same time.
I would rather own a nice device for gaming than suffer garbage quality that the corporations had been scamming people with a huge trash that real gamers don't wanna bother.
You can have a decent $300 gaming console, just get a job or something😅
The real answer is we need OPTIONS. We need to have the physical media, the ownable media, remain readily available alongside the cloud streaming format. We already have preservation problems with older games not being made available legally by publishers, making emulation the only recourse. Not being able to own our purchases when publishers are removing content from storefronts, and even people's libraries AFTER they've already purchased it, is only going to further cement the "rent not own" concept into corporate executives' minds.
Exactly. Agree. I do mention this in the end of this video. Options need to remain, whether that’s in subscription models or access to physical hardware/games. As we’re transitioning more into all things digital, digital ownership is also being more refined, what it means, how it works; what if the servers go down? Will your digital ownership of a game still mean something? I like options too. And I think to keep the gaming world diverse, blockchain and the nft logic will play a huge role in this. (Maybe something for my next video :)
Since Netflix makes games now I guess Netflix is the Netflix of gaming.
If internet get fast enough it’s always possible but if until then it can lead to input delay or others problems (I don’t mean like 2 frame differences I mean half a second) it would be interesting to watch it expand
I like your video, but I don't like the direction we're moving. But I see the pros and cons.
But one huge obstacle that you don't go over, is "server capacity".
The required processing power and storage space for everyone to be cloud gaming, rather than running the game on their own hardware. That will be a monumental task.
I can image that AntStreamArcade started with old games, since they don't take up much space, and they're very computationally lightweight.
With movies and music, it's no deal, because the content play outs the exact same for every user.
Now imagine the New Call of Duty releasing ONLY on the cloud. potentially millions of separate instances (players) that needs to get rendered separetely since everyones games play out differently.
They're gonna figure out some insane algorithmn or AI to be able to process that.
But even though they figure all that out.... I still don't like it... maybe it's just because I grow up in a world with physical media, because that was the technology we had.
The biggest benefit of cloud streaming in my opinion is the eliminating of huge download files. Click the cloud button and you're in right away. I think we will increasingly see cloud only devices like handhelds, phones and tablets. Where the experience continues to get better as the Internet infrastructure gets stronger and 5G is fully implemented globally.
I think discussion about cloud gaming needs to talk about the largest market that consumes cloud gaming - Asia. I've worked on games that were strictly developed for mobile with the developers hoping to get early movers advantage. Its always easy to fall into the eurocentric point of view trap!
As a developer, I can't wait for cloud gaming to become the norm. Focusing on just one piece of hardware, possibly the most advanced on the market, would unlock a new level of development and save a lot of time.
I just found out about it last night when I looked on Xbox menu to see if they had all the fallout games. And I just put the cloud gaming on my phone Home Screen connected my controller to Bluetooth and I was playing. Pretty amazing and exciting to play halo and hollow knight on my phone. I’m watching this video on the toilet wishing I brought my controller
I've been using cloud gaming with Game Pass Cloud for the past year and I wouldn't go back. Give it 5 years and the vast majority of gamers will play through the cloud.
Cloud gaming is like renting a house. Would you rather own the house outright or become a paypig for some fat landlord? "Oh but what if I'm from a poor country and can't afford to buy games?" => piracy, it's worked for decades.... If only we could download a house ;-;
I sometimes use xcloud streaming when away from home for some weeks, but other than for some slow games like fallout where I can pause the game anytime for a non real-time aiming mode or other slower games the input lag is way to jarring.
The tech still isn’t ready. And I actually really like to own games.
XCloud is lightning fast if you have a wired connection to the router. Trying to play xcloud on the wifi is a bit painful, yeah.
Xbox Game Pass is the only reason I still play games. the only downfall is if you decide to play an older game, half way through it they might decide to remove it with a week's notice.
Yeah I love gamepass ultimate xcloud. We have it on our samsung TV and use our old PS4 controllers (any bluetooth controller works). We connected our TV to the router, since the wifi wasnt strong enough. The service is amazing. No lag. No latency.
The Netflix of gaming will never happen cause no company are willing to let gamers play all their catalog for free via a monthly subscription fee. OnLive failed cause they aren't willing to let gamers play all the games for free via subscription and Stadia failed cause of the same thing. As long as company are treating cloud games as retail alternative, nobody will want to embrace cloud gaming. Cloud games should never be an alternative for retail games, they should be alternatives for renting games thus each games should be free to play in full as long as a monthly subscription fee is paid.
What about xcloud?
GeForce Now mid and Ultimate tiers already surpass performance of either PS5 or XBox Series S.
Ultimate running off of 4090's blows the doors off of them in every way. Much stronger hardware.
I agree on that Geforce Now is at its strongest atm
Love the windows 11 with the windows XP background 😂
You have made a very good presentation
Thank you from the❤
It will revolutionize game companies bank accounts, and death game preservation.
Not all Cloud gaming providers. Today Stadia i remember some of the games were free some you had to buy. But i agree that in terms of Ownership it becomes a threat in the future. While i am big time pro mostly of Cloud gaming because way cheaper option than every 3-5 buying a new pc or pc parts saves the environment from electronic E waste on that case. But in terms of electricity C02 it dont does it good.
please talk about VR gaming next past present future
Antstream guy? Wow!
Very good explanation, good quality content, this channel will grow going like this
Really well done. Subscribed!
Knowledge is prison.., wisdom is power.
You will pay for Game Pass, You will play from cloud servers, You will own nothing and be happy
But atleast I'm not gonna wait to finish the 200gb game download 😂
Subscriptions make a lot of people upset so so does the cloud but neither actually prevent you from owning games. Just allowing busy dad's to play our games on smaller devices wherever we are.
That's some good quality content for someone who has less then a thousand of subs ;)
I'm probably looking at someone who'll blow up on YT in no time. Good luck with that!
P.S. I have no idea why, but you seem like a familiar face for some reason
Thank you very much! Familiar face? I’m really just a N01n :)
This is giving me some serious: "You will own nothing and will be happy" vibes.
I am completely against these practices. Sure, i acknowledge the appeal that it's easy/convenient. You don't need any physical space to store your games etc... Which is all nice. Also the ecological side of things is absolutely nice. (Much less plastic in the world, less shipping = less emissions, etc,...)
So that's all great. On the other hand, you won't own your games. You can't lend them out to friends/family, rent, resell or trade them. But oh wait: You don't do any of these things. GREAT for you! Now how about your fellow gamers?
Another thing that comes to mind is: "Control." No, not the game. I mean, what if they decide one day that they want to take the game of the server? What about price hikes? Not only for games but for services like GamePass. Shouldn't it be fair that, because all the cost they are winning back by not having to ship out the games, making/printing the front/back covers, disc's etc... that this should go back to how it was and maybe go back to the $60 price-tag?
I'm getting more and more into retro gaming. And man, i'm happy i am right on time! Because this is going downwards very quickly!
I know it is stupid but i'm actually more afraid for the future of gaming than i'm excited. Then again, i am a gamer since the ATARI days. So i'm not a 16-yr. old anymore who want's the newest thing right then and now.
But this is my personal opinion of course.
First of all: Thank you for your thoughts! Totally get where you're coming from. It feels like we're in a tug-of-war with big companies over who really owns the games we love etc. our games are just floating on some server in the cloud instead of sitting on our shelves. It can all feel a bit off. And as my interviewees mentioned, it is concerning. But if shit hits the fan, no one will be happy. Neither companies nor customers. Companies, in the end, have to keep US happy. We (gamers) are a pretty loud and passionate community and any uproar will be noticed and taken care of. I’m just optimistic in that sense. Regulations, laws, best practices…we have to shape them together.
And, it's not like we're asking for the moon here. We just want a fair shake when it comes to owning our games and having control over them. It's all about that push and pull, and we've got more pull than we often realize.
@@BelindaErcan Agreed. The only concern of course is that, right now, if a company like XBOX with GamePass for example raises their price, we can make our voice hear and say we don't like their practices. They will need to listen because at this moment, we, as gamers can get our games somewhere else. But what if it is digital only? We can't say: "We don't like this or that" because they have the complete control.
So i agree with what you say, their need to be very clear laws about this. Something that, if i buy my game digital, i'll actually own some kind of license and it's mine to keep forever. That i have some kind of licensed code that i can share or lend out to a friend/family member. I don't know, but i guess we will need something like that. Probably amongst other laws, so they can't backtrack on us and make it all undone!
I want to be optimistic, i really do. I'm coming from far when it comes to gaming. Heck, i even played on a Commodore 64 at one point. I absolutely applaud evolution if it is for the better of this world. And all the ecological things could be in place. But they need to absolutely come through.
Right now, i'm just sitting here with a scary feeling. Thanks for your great response btw. I'm happy you can see the "dangers" lurking around. Not everyone is like that. 🙂
For worse, no fucking thanks.
You lost me at "giving companies insights on what players truly want" That's not how this works 😂
Player behaviour that is. But feel free to correct me here
Ban cloud gaming from your minds! Giving all control to evil enterprises *WILL* destroy gaming forever! Just have a look at what shit they already have done with just limited control they have on our PCs and consoles last ten years!
Want to pay per minute? Yeah, go cloud!
Want to have the games you rightfulyl bought being taken from you, just because your platform doesn't want to pay license fees to the studio anymore? Go cloud!
Want *ALL* games to be online, with all the downsides, repeating the great 'fun' we had with past forced-onmline single player games? Go cloud!
Want prices to be even more controlled by even fewer large enterprises, thus games not only becoming more expensive, but on top hacnig running cost? Go cloud!
Want the then streaming platforms being without any alternative, because once there are enough people they *WILL* cancel all classic offers, like buying and actually *owning* games on your own hardware? Go cloud!
Want games to become worse and worse, until all games are 'mobile quality', because that's whats making these platforms the most money? Go cloud!
This *ALL* is nothing new - it's just the exact behaviour these enterprise have proven over and over for at least tne years now!
And there's more ..
Gamers don't be stupid! Just once in your life. Please.
Absolutely. And because of passionate people like you (and me) they have to offer cloud gaming as an option only. Options options options. No options => riled up gamer community => bad business.
Cloud gaming for developing/emerging countries is top. Those who can afford 70$ for one game, top. I bought Persona 5 for 70$ on steam. I realized I don’t like it so much. Thought I would like it after watching gameplays. Now I wished i hadn’t spent it. Should have “tested” it first via cloud (if available). There are so many upsides for cloud gaming. It’s up to us to not let its downsides become the norm.
If you have a newer Series S or X it has some pros that the PS5 dont have. Its the browser that can enable making Cloud gaming possible Services like Geforce Now Boosteroid
@@BelindaErcan There's not really anything up to us. Kast four decaded have proven so. World's economica are exclusively controled by rich people and industry.
For example: did you notice that for about 15 years now, there has basically no technlogy been introduced that didn't have come with multiple downsides? Like anything coming with spyware, ads and subscriptiopns now .. any way more shenanigans. Like game and movie publishers taking *bought* movies away from their customers. Like enterprises like Crappel intentionally and provenly building in parts that only have the one purpose to limti the lifetimes of a product. And other parts that are just there to make repairs impossible?
Unless there's a worldwide revolution, cancelling the old and corrupt governing systems, there's no hope at all, because all the systems have been optimized to catering to the indutrial's needs and this is a still ongoing development.
Do you feel the same about Netflix and Amazon Prime? I certainly would like physical copies to remain in existence, like books. But for people like me who game casually, love a huge library, and don't really mind if a game I like vanishes from the library, cloud is a great option. Totally respect that people want to own games, so they can play offline and forever, with independance.
Nope. I'm never going on streaming
看射了，很棒主持人