Head in the Clouds: More About Cloud Gaming in 2023

Cloud gaming hasn't fully taken hold of the gaming world just yet. Though it's been around for a while (it was first introduced in 2000 at the E3 conference and released as a functioning system in 2003), the model has been a challenging one to sell to the public at large. The infrastructure required for cloud gaming has, until recently, not been present at a high enough level for it to really take hold. It took giants like Sony, Microsoft, and Google coming to the table to build enough momentum for cloud gaming to begin taking off around the world.

Cloud gaming, for those who don’t recognize or fully understand the term, is a way of gaming that lets you play without the hardware that you’d usually require to play the best AAA games out there. Gaming PCs and their components are costly and cumbersome. New parts are constantly coming out, leaving gamers feeling the need to keep up, but cloud-based gaming is different. An Online Casino can be accessed from most computers or mobile devices, just like a number of cloud-based gaming services. Instead of needing to be tethered to one specific machine that takes on the processing of your game on its own, you can game from whichever machine or console you happen to be nearest to (some game/machine/console restrictions apply, of course) and let the cloud do the heavy lifting.

Let’s learn a little more about these evolving gaming platforms and how the cloud can make our gaming experiences better and more convenient in 2023.

The platforms

Even the most modest gaming setup can handle AAA titles if you’re playing through a cloud gaming service. Industry titans like Sony, Microsoft, and Nvidia have all come to play and as a result, the platforms they offer have improved steadily since their inception. The idea of gaming without worrying about how old your graphics card is or what patch you’ll need next is an incredibly appealing one. The subscription services out there now offer a plethora of games and features, which can be a little overwhelming if you’re new to the concept of cloud gaming. Luckily for you, we've tried out the biggest and best in the business so that you don't have to! These are our favorite services and why we prefer them to others.

GeForce NOW

NVIDIA’s GeForce NOW is fast and responsive and there is a free plan available. Games are not included in the price of a paid plan; they come at your own cost. The drawbacks are that gaming sessions may have a limited time and that there's a little bit of inconsistency in in-game/platform compatibility.

Xbox Cloud Gaming

This service offers excellent value for money! The enormous games library is included in the cost of your subscription and the service is ready to go as it comes; no extra setup time or added extras are needed. The drawbacks here are that compression takes a chunk out of the video quality and that older titles are sometimes removed from the library.

Amazon Luna

The Amazon Luna interface is very user-friendly and intuitive, and as an added bonus, there are some games that subscribers can even play with their non-subscribed friends. Our peeves here are that the library is a little behind the times, and there are a number of channels that all have subscription costs, which can add up quickly.

The pros & cons of cloud gaming

While the infrastructure for cloud gaming has come a long way, there are, as always, pros and cons to be discussed. We do believe that cloud gaming is the future of gaming; it may be the future for any online service! Before you know it, you might find yourself hitting your favorite online casino via a cloud service and having access to all that information wherever you go and whichever device you're using. The question is: how soon is that future coming?

The fact that cloud gaming relies so heavily on an internet connection may be either a problem or a plus, depending on where you live and the level of internet you have access to. If you live in a big city where fiber is everywhere and it’s reasonably cost-effective, you’re A for away. For gamers who live in more rural or underserved areas where internet connections may be spotty or not exist in any reasonable format at all, cloud gaming is simply not practical.

On the pro side, If you have good internet and access to it when you’re traveling, the convenience of a cloud-based gaming system is unparalleled. You can take your device and nothing else with you and access your game library and in-progress games wherever you are at the time.

On the con side, video compression can cause a radical drop in quality. The quality of the graphics needs to be the best it can be to impress modern gamers who are used to playing on machines that feature high-quality graphics cards. As it currently stands, some cloud subscription services cannot offer the level of graphics quality to compete with a physical machine.

Wrap up

Cloud gaming in 2023 has come a long way, and we’re excited to see how much more it will grow as technology catches up to our imaginations.