Gabe Newell Doesn't Believe in Cloud Gaming

1985FM Writes: “Cloud gaming works until it starts to be successful, at which point, it falls over,” Gabe Newell said at his keynote speech at DICE yesterday. “All the spreadsheets ignore the producing levels that consumer networks use. When everyone starts using a continuous network connection in order to get their applications, prices are going to go through the roof.”

[TurboGamer]

He also doesn't Believe in the number 3.

[Monkeycan8]

whats a 3?

[guitarded77]

Or hygiene... he always looks like he just crawled out of a ditch after a 3 day drinking binge. (Please Note: I did not make a fat joke).

On topic:
I'm not a big fan of the idea of cloud gaming either. Just too many potential issues. Speed and connectivity being the main two off the top of my head.

[Minato-Namikaze]

LMAO, i laughed for like 2 minutes.

On topic:
I like my discs, which is weird cause i like my movies and music (and even money) digital

[sdozzo]

'fat, drunk and stupid are no way to go through life, son.'

[joab777]

Yeah, its not cost productive. Maybe in the future if tech levels off, but right now it only works as a fringe method. Its similar to the problem the iphone created but much bigger. Today Sprint can offer unlimited data because they dont have the number of carriers that verizon does.

[rainslacker]

I have nothing against it really. I just don't think it's viable as the only option.

I doubt Sony dropped 380 million dollars on a company without thorough research on it's actual costs over the long haul. Maybe in the future. For now though I just don't see it as the primary or even major source for gaming given the numbers attached to the medium itself.

Of course there is nothing at the moment to suggest that it is Sony's intended purpose with their purchase either, so I'm playing the wait and see game.

On a side note, about a year ago I was working with a small development team that wanted to incorporate cloud gaming for serving their product. I did a lot of research into it, and it's actually terribly expensive to run your game on a cloud server. It's an ongoing cost as opposed to a one time fee, and not as efficient as running an application on a local client(console/phone). The only real benefit at the time was producing one version to run instead of having to test for multiple scenarios that arise from different target hardware.

[Knight_Crawler]

The fat must have now spread to his brain and making the only thing he believes in is FOOD.

All jokes aside he should contact Iwata from Nintendo and have a 90's party.

http://n4g.com/news/1165892...

[Wagz22]

Announce Half-Life 3 at E3 dammit!

[koehler83]

Neither do I. I think it's a great feature but it doesn't constitute a platform. I think all gaming platforms should use cloud services for storage, social features and demos but not for the games themselves.

[nukeitall]

I don't think cloud will be the way either. If anything, streaming games (not video like Gaikai/Onlive) is the future. By streaming, I mean the assets.

You can download part of the game start playing while the rest finishes in the background. I think the concept of cloud gaming as it is, is deeply flawed and can't get to the level of fidelity gamers are expecting.

Buttery smooth gaming at 60fps is going to be hard to achieve in a streaming video. Guess what, the most popular console game is CoD whom is 60fps!

[2pacalypsenow]

I agree too i rather play my games direct

[zerocrossing]

So both Iwata and Gabe don't see Cloud gaming as the future?
Well, I think these guys probably know what they're talkiing about so Im likely to agree.

But there's still something to be said for Cloud storage IMO.

[guitarded77]

No doubt cloud storage is great for save back-ups.

[animegamingnerd]

that is really the only use for cloud gaming other then shoving DRM down our throats

[Bigpappy]

I am with Gabe on this.

[BanBrother]

Haha the other day when I said it wasn't viable I was getting disagrees left right and center. Sure, on pen and paper it looks fine, but how are we going to find the bandwidth?

It's like saying in the future we will all be driving hover cars. Well, unless we had limitless amounts of power, then no, not very viable. At least in the foreseeable future. Some people don't even have internet, and some people still have dial-up, standard broadband or just crappy upload speeds.

[FlyingFoxy]

Stop with the "Valve can't count to 3" crap, we all know 3rd games of the best games made: Half Life, Portal, Left 4 Dead will all come eventually even if they don't have the number 3 at the end of their title. I'm almost certain i'd bet that this year is when they show Source 2.

Also this company makes the best games ever, i can't wait to see Source engine 2 and i completely agree with him that Cloud gaming isn't the future.

1: OnLive failed

2: 1 overhead is always better than 2, why would you want more latency when you have to stream from your ISP and then again to the cloud service that you receive the data from?. it's just a big fail.. add in online multiplayer and it even increases the lag further.

[Rivitur]

Onlive is still going even after being bought which for them is a somewhat success as they still made some cash and Gaikai's service is really great as long as you have a good connection that'swhy Sony bought them.

[CrescentFang]

Fool, you challenge me with trickery. I don't believe in magic. Onward!

[Reborn]

Cloud Storage - possible, if done correctly.

Cloud Gaming - It will fall to preference. I prefer having my discs. Others might pick otherwise. I would assume it would impact the DLC costs, and how DLC comes into play though. So who knows?

Will be interesting to see the path it goes down.

[Azurite]

It's also about the game's response to the player's actions.
Even if you have a 1Gbit connection you'd get more delay than you can get today with a fraction of that.

We've already seen devolving game solutions, to make games more casual.
Cloud gaming would work for some games, no doubt, but I would not want to see it used for "twitch" games.

[Sp1d3ynut]

I'll believe in "cloud gaming", when I'm sitting in Heaven playing Halo 15 co-op with my late best friend.

[Somebody]

“I think there’s a place for cloud gaming, but more as a feature or for things like demos and spectating. But not as core architecture.”

Yes. Cloud is great as a feature, a component of a game/client. I avoided Steam's own cloud services for years since I preferred to keep it in offline mode most of the time thanks to a pretty shaky internet connection. Recently though I started using Steam's cloud (for uploading save files) to keep the gaming experience constant between my main PC and laptop.

These publishers/developers should just look at the constant problems in MMO launches or the first days/weeks of multiplayer portions of regular games to know that turning fully to cloud is a bad idea. Even Diablo 3's server errors managed to disrupt Blizzard's own other online games.

[KMCROC54]

Don't believe in dieting or shaving so what's new.

[RuperttheBear]

Why would you need to when you're a billionaire.

[KMCROC54]

Cause bad dieting can lead to health issues that may lead to death & keep even a billionaire from enjoying all his money.

[Prodigy-X]

I think Sony Cloud gaming will change their mind if they implement it right but will see. Gaikai is already bringing it to mobile devices so they must really want to push it.

http://www.playstationlifes...

http://www.playstationlifes...

[NateCole]

Agree with Gabe.

[Dms2012]

It's cloud gaming, not leprechauns you moron.

[3-4-5]

Looks like the Light-Saber dancing Mayyahieee song kid

[Kennytaur]

I'd take cartridges instead.

[grassyknoll]

He's right. The outlay is incredibly expensive for companies, there's lag, & a reliance on networks. If used for demos (& in Sony's case, Vita cloud versions) it's fine but it's definitely not the future of gaming (unless you fundamentally change the nature of physics!)