What is Cloud Gaming?

What are cloud games? How are they different from online games? What are the pros and cons? And who are the major players in this space? Here are the basics everyone needs to know...

- By: Janani G. Vikram

What are cloud games?

• Cloud games run completely on powerful, remote servers in data centres maintained by large technology companies like NVIDIA, Sony, Amazon, Microsoft and Jio.

• No processing happens on the user’s computer—they need not download or install anything locally. They can just login and play, like how they stream a movie from an over-the-top (OTT) platform.

• Users’ game moves are sent to the server, which processes them, updates the game state, and returns video and audio streams to their computers, in real-time.

• So, users do not need a powerful computer or large capacity disks—and everyone can play even the most resource-intensive of games.

• But, to avoid lag, users need a stable and fast internet connection.

• Cloud gaming service providers offer different levels of subscriptions—basic,premium, etc—and users can access different games based on the plan chosen.

• Many popular online games are also available on cloud gaming platforms now.