I think these poll results should open a lot of eyes of people on this forum who think that its too early for game streaming. So far, 75% of respondents have at least 50Mbps download speeds.
Project XCloud claims a requirement of 10 Mbps, Google Stadia has a requirement of 15-20 Mbps. So 75% of this forum has more than enough speed to stream.
Concern about data caps are legit, but even with 1TB data cap, there is plenty of room for game streaming.
Many games nowadays are reaching the 100 GB mark for file size, excluding post-launch support (patches, DLC, etc.) I expect that will only continue to increase with next gen.
Instead of downloading a 100GB game, you could stream it (assuming the high point of 20Mbps) for 11 hours for the same amount of bandwidth. And as the size of games increase with higher resolution textures, that relationship is only going to get better.
The statistic I've seen is that, on average, gamers spend 6 hours/week playing video games. Again, assuming 20Mbps bandwidth requirement, that is 210 GB/Month or 1/5th of a 1TB data cap.
So I think, 1 TB data cap is more than enough for an average gamer to stream games full time.
But the other important thing to remember is that these services aren't even designed for the average gamer, but for the more casual game consumers. Instead of being limited to Fortnite or PUBG or the handful of other AAA mobile titles, all AAA games are opened up to casual gamers.
So while the infrastructure may not be there for hardcore gamers to stream all of their gaming content, there are many with unlimited data caps that can do exactly that. And it is ready to open up AAA gaming to a huge audience of casual gamers. And infrastructure is only going to continue to improve, with 5G and other technological advancements.
Project XCloud claims a requirement of 10 Mbps, Google Stadia has a requirement of 15-20 Mbps. So 75% of this forum has more than enough speed to stream.
Concern about data caps are legit, but even with 1TB data cap, there is plenty of room for game streaming.
Many games nowadays are reaching the 100 GB mark for file size, excluding post-launch support (patches, DLC, etc.) I expect that will only continue to increase with next gen.
Instead of downloading a 100GB game, you could stream it (assuming the high point of 20Mbps) for 11 hours for the same amount of bandwidth. And as the size of games increase with higher resolution textures, that relationship is only going to get better.
The statistic I've seen is that, on average, gamers spend 6 hours/week playing video games. Again, assuming 20Mbps bandwidth requirement, that is 210 GB/Month or 1/5th of a 1TB data cap.
So I think, 1 TB data cap is more than enough for an average gamer to stream games full time.
But the other important thing to remember is that these services aren't even designed for the average gamer, but for the more casual game consumers. Instead of being limited to Fortnite or PUBG or the handful of other AAA mobile titles, all AAA games are opened up to casual gamers.
So while the infrastructure may not be there for hardcore gamers to stream all of their gaming content, there are many with unlimited data caps that can do exactly that. And it is ready to open up AAA gaming to a huge audience of casual gamers. And infrastructure is only going to continue to improve, with 5G and other technological advancements.
