World-class gaming could be streamed to any new device, anywhere. It’s not a new prediction, but it could be coming very soon.
Gaming analyst Michael Pachter of Wedbush Securities said in a webcast last year that “console software is going to move off console” as soon as 2019 or 2020.
“Every console generation going forward will be about half as big as the one before it” as consumers get more options to do something without a console, he explained.
High-quality streaming has long been seen as a major frontier for consumer digital services, and firms from many fields have been attempting to go the way of Netflix and Spotify.
Just as those tech heavyweights store videos and music outside of consumers’ devices, companies want to stream video games straight from a remote server.
“Advances in cloud computing will be the primary influence on tomorrow’s gaming landscape,” Jud Waite, analyst at CB Insights, told CNBC over email.
“Console developers may shift to cloud-based subscription services that provide greater flexibility and limited upfront costs for gamers while also providing access to regular performance upgrades over time,” he added.