E3 2012: All gaming will be cloud based "someday", admits MS

Microsoft Game Studios’ corporate VP Phil Spencer has admitted that the future of gaming lies in the clouds.

While an expected deal between Sony and a major cloud gaming firm has yet to be announced, platform holders are for the first time admitting that the model as we know it is on borrowed time.

Cloud is a huge opportunity. And someday, yes, someday,” Spencer told News.com.au when asked if gaming ‘is all going to be through the cloud’ at some stage.

But if you look at the internet capabilities today, it’s a challenge. Even, forget about games. If you said everybody was going to watch the Champions League Final concurrently via the internet at HD-level quality, the internet can’t handle that. And that’s just people watching a football game. That doesn’t include the level of interactivity of a game and a two-way pipe going back and forth.

So I believe, yes, in the long run we’ll land in a spot where there’s cloud distribution of all content and Microsoft is clearly invested in that. I like the work that Gaikai does, I play games on Gaikai, and if I get the right bandwidth situation they’re actually good experiences.

But today it’s not really up to scale. You’re still going to be pushing boxes out to people’s houses that they’re going to plug into the TV. That’s what they’re going to use to play their triple-A games. And I think that’ll be the case for a while.

But that’s not trying to downplay what Gaikai is doing, because I think that it’s great that they’re investing in it.”