No 3D or motion could hurt OnLive

Though many think that cloud gaming could be the dominant force in the next generation of gaming, one analyst has predicted that the failure of services such as OnLive to embrace modern gaming trends could leave them floundering.

What OnLive will not do, at least not at this point, is to accommodate the two major drivers of video games today – motion activity and 3D graphics,” Klosters Trading’s Lutz Muller said in his report entitled ‘Video Games – Choppy Water Ahead’.

However, Muller does add that the cloud gaming model will certainly appeal to publishers.

This is a technology strongly backed by virtually all software publishers (all except for Activision) and equally strongly opposed by both console manufacturers and brick-and-mortar retailers alike,” he added.

The reasons why the publisher love the potential this technology offers are compelling – it cuts out the pirates, it eliminates the middleman, and it removes second-hand games as a competitor.

Putting this into context – pirated copies represent about 20 per cent of the U.S. total, the middleman takes 20 per cent off the retail price, and used games represent about 20 per cent of the total market. Between the three you look at a nearly 100 per cent upside potential.”

Image credit: Axel Rouvin