Why Gaikai Is Paramount to PlayStation's Future

Push Square: "Sony’s not enjoyed much financial success lately. The company has been bleeding money for years, primarily due to its diminished relevance in the consumer electronics sector. Where the Japanese giant was once considered the market leader, it’s been outmuscled by more versatile competitors such as Apple, Samsung, and even LG. The task has fallen upon former PlayStation president Kaz Hirai to turn the organisation’s fortunes around, and there are signs that things are gradually starting to improve, even if there is still a long road ahead."

[ArmGunar]

At least, Sony will have always a exit door with Gaikai if the market of home consoles die.

Maybe the future of video-game is this kind of online gaming or maybe not but if it happens, Sony will be ready :)

[Knight_Crawler]

This is what people who are predicting that Sony will announce the PS4 on the 20th fail to understand - Gaikai is very VITAL to the future of Sony and it cannot fail or break even, the purchase has to bring them back a huge payback which is why I expect Sony to announce something Gaikai related instead of PS4 on the 20th.

Some of you may say why not both... because a PS4 announcement will over shadow anything Gaikai related.

[jukins]

well what you fail to realize is that for Gaikai to be successful, asap, it must be tied in with the playstation 4 and what better way than a playstation 4 reveal. It'd be like apple showing off the itunes store with no device to use it on.

[rainslacker]

With the release of every PS console, Sony has pushed an emerging technology. PS1 had CD, PS2 had DVD, and PS3 had Blu-Ray.

Since Blu-Ray is probably going to be the accepted standard for a while, mostly because it is adaptable, there was just no other technology other than streaming services. It is doubly beneficial to Sony as well, since they have quite a wide array of media to push, from Movies, TV, and Music, all within their very own catalog, not to mention partner companies that will want to take part.

Because of that, PS4 is in the position to push the Gaikai service into the market and help make it gain mainstream acceptance, much like the release of their last 3 consoles have done.

The only downside this time around is that streaming services are already plentiful, and generally adopted by quite a few people. What's going to be most interesting is how Sony will differentiate itself from all the others, and I'm sure games will play a big part in that equation.

[aCasualGamer]

Paramount Pictures

http://0.tqn.com/d/webtrend...

I dunno... don't ask me why.

[dcbronco]

Gaikai's importance is limited. Unless they expand the service for other places it won't be a huge factor. It has been around and hasn't made a huge impact. Though sometimes a larger company can get into areas a smaller one can't. If they did make Gaikai a streaming service that did games as well as movies and music all for one fee that might be able to make it bigger than it was. But then you might be talking about a $20-25 a month service. Make it an all encompassing PSN Plus.

The downside is that there has been talk for some time about charging streaming companies a fee. IPs are complaining about the amount of bandwidth used. If that were to happen it might put Sony in a bad position. It would be raise prices or eat the losses.

[Just_The_Truth]

@Dcbronco just before Sony bought them out the made deals with a ton of companies last year. You can play full games from Facebook, your tv, an advertisement anything with Internet. The best thing about that is you don't need extra hardware to get the same quality. Plus the companies only pay for what they need. They will defiantly make their money back in one way or another, at lot of thought goes into spending 380 million. Btw imagine being able to stream ps1-3 games to your vita w/o having to download a thing. http://youtu.be/exv-vReXXm8

[dcbronco]

Truth,

Gaikai was a standalone company that may not have been making money as it stood. I'm not sure why so many believe Sony can take on those cost and offer it for free. This has to be just another way of getting people to pay for online gaming. They could make it free to console owners and charge for anything else, but it has to be paid for. I'm not sure why Sony can make it so much more profitable than Gaikai unless they combine music and movies with it and charge. Otherwise it will just be something else costing them money and not producing any.

But when it comes to IPs charging for bandwidth, if that happens there is no way for Sony to get around charging users. PSN for free is a weight around their neck. Gaikai would be a weight around their neck also unless they charge. And that means charging for BC. I don't think they will do that. So it must be to replace PSN+ and be the start of getting people to pay for online.

Or sell it to other companies as a service. Like movies in a doctors office or games at an airport. And companies make billion dollar deals and haven't thought it through or have it not live up to there expectations. Or the market just changes. MS took a charge of several billion because they bought a company that wasn't what they thought it was.

[Divine]

Gaikai will surely change the gaming world, and i'm glad sony has made this investment They know what they're doing and won't fail to deliver the ultimate experience for us all.

[Ju]

OnLive didn't and neither will Gaikai.

[fourOeightshark]

OnLive wasn't bought by a freakin multinational conglomerate corporation.

[profgerbik]

Did you even use Gaikai? because you would know Gaikai and OnLive are totally two different things.

One sucks badly, one doesn't. Not hard to figure out which one, because Sony didn't spend over billions on OnLive..

[miyamoto]

OnLive lacked focus, and was on the wrong ecosystem
Gaikai is laser focused on the right ecosystem, the core console gaming community

[Ju]

Sony didn't spend one Billion on Gaikai, either. Just saying. And how ever different those two things are, you can't make a profit with streaming solutions (as they are right now). No matter if Sony or not. Gaikai != Playstation. FYI. An add on can't be the product. BTW: please send me a link where I can either try Gaikai or buy it. Because AFAIS you can't.

[a_bro]

the purchase of Gaikai is more than just for PS4. it goes beyond that. the Vita(obviously), Bravia, Blu-Ray players are included in the mix.

Gaikai was running on samsung tvs before Gaikai got bought out by sony.

Gaikai isnt just for the playstation line, its for every peace of hardware that sony makes.

[fourOeightshark]

That's why i'm buying the Xperia Z phone and Xperia Tablet Z.

[JBSleek]

You'll be lucky if the Xperia Z is on more than one US carrier.

[JoGam]

@ JBSleek...if not at launch then it will in the future.

[dcbronco]

a-bro,

It might work out great for Sony. But they need to get deals in place with the IPs. If the IPs start charging for heavy users, Gaikai might turn into a burden for Sony.

[Ps_alm3k]

Well it will be the netflix for games.

[juandren]

Much, much more. It will be the Netflix for everything. It literally has no limit. If Sony plays this right, they could be the #1 brand for everything in a home, in every home in the world. I imagine in 10 years even alarm systems and security cameras will be linked to Gaikai. Arm your alarm through your phone, monitor your home's CCTV cameras, update your PS5 from your phone. Maybe even remote desktops from their VAIO laptops. If Sony market sthis right, they could possibly take over electronics in most homes in the world

[JBSleek]

You serious though? You got to be kidding me lol.

[juandren]

If you have a reason to think it won't work, please share. Sony's other departments are suffering extreme losses. They won't stop with just gaming. Sony Music, Sony Pictures, BRAVIA, VAIO, Sony Mobile, Blu-Ray players. Why would they exclude all those out of a $380 million purchase?

[Megaton]

It's silly to think cloud gaming will become a mainstream thing any time in the next few years. Most of the world's internet still isn't in a position to facilitate that. Whether it be slow speeds or data caps, ISPs are ultimately in control of whether or not cloud gaming becomes viable.

[rainslacker]

It will gain acceptance, however going mainstream can take quite a while. It's not to say it won't happen, but because of the things you mention it will have a long uphill battle to reach that goal. Somethings go mainstream really quick, like smartphones, other things take a while, like say video games which only went mainstream about 7 years or so ago...mostly due to smartphones and the Wii.

[danthebios]

bankai wait,my baaaad

[SonyStyled]

what is the correct pronunciation of Gaikai anyway?

[juandren]

Guy-khai (Khai as in Thai)

[darx]

Gaikai gives Sony what MS, Apple & Google already have, cloud service.

[juandren]

Cloud storage =/= Cloud service

[saint_seya]

LOL u made yourself look so bad with that comment...

[lovegames718]

Lol like I said since the start, Gaikai will be big for Sony. All the haters and trolls downplaying it go hide under a rock feb. 20th because its going to be real crazy on that hate and the envy levels will be quite high

Yeah Gakai wont be big, just like Blu Ray wasnt the future lol

[xk77]

Imagine Sony makes Gaikai a Netflix type of service. You could rent a game or buy digitally and pay up to $20 every 3 months.

[fourOeightshark]

Or they could include it with PS+ by raising the price to like $100 a year and throw in free movies and discounts while they're at it.

[xk77]

Either way it would be nice if they implemented something like that

[lovegames718]

I think Sony, def. has plans for a game streaming service like netflix but for ps3 games on the ps4. I dont think theIr main focus for its use is bc.

[profgerbik]

OMG an article about Sony's Gaikai and explaining how important it is for their future? About time.. hasn't been enough. Sorry to be an ass about this but I was getting sick of having to explain what Gaikai is and why it is so important right now in this screwed up gaming economy..

They are set with Gaikai regardless even if consoles and handhelds die and just can't be supported anymore. These losses everyone is experiencing can only go on for so long. So I always applauded them for at least having a very good back up plan.

Even reading most the comments here people still have no idea what Gaikai was made for or what it aims to do.

Let me put it simple, it means being able to bring AAA games to every platform for the most part, no doubt even games that aren't affiliated with SCE will want to be put on Sony's Gaikai. It can be used on PC, tablets and phones and of course Sony's devices which about covers everything people use today.

Even the demo side is great, now people will be able to demo Sony's games and their supported developers games all without having to download them and being able to instantly play them, that will be a huge bonus for developers, a much greater incentive for them to want to be apart of Playstation's brand more.

Gaikai is more of a bonus for PS4 and PS Vita users but the main intention of Gaikai is to be able to finally not have to restrict games to a platform in a sense.

[BitbyDeath]

We don't even know if Gaikai will be used for gaming.
Sony is a huge company and many divisions could make use of it.

[jmc8888]

Streaming games isn't 'forward', it's 'backwards'.

It LIMITS you, not EMPOWERS you.

It ADDS problems, doesn't REMOVE them.

I swear some people simply can't think. They see something 'new' and it must be 'good'.

They see games go through the internet and it must be good. Nope.

The consumer AND the developers are going to lose with game streaming or cloud gaming. They give up more because Sony or MS forces them to give more. What does the consumer get? Nothing. But bigger bills, fewer games, their rights diminished, reliability issues, and many, many more.

If they want a BACKUP for game saves on the cloud, great. Steam does that. Digital distribution? Fine.

But streaming games? A game streaming service? So many problems with that, some people should sit for five minutes and brainstorm the problems.

With a game streaming service, every time you play a game all the stuff that gets thrown into ram, whenever it needs to be, has to use your internet bandwidth. Not only that, but your cap, and while many don't realize they are capped because they haven't reached it, they will with a service like this. Get ready for to need to subscribe to the most expensive tier by your cable internet provider, and probably still go over.

We don't know the scope, whether it's PS3 games, or PS4 games, or a monthly streaming service. All have their cons, and the more that it infiltrates, the more cons it'll have.

Instead people will just love to feel their 'mania' and don't care it's robbing them of something.

[Ju]

Totally agree. Judging by some of the comments here, I am guess some will be disappointed come the 20th. It's not gonna happen. Not in the way as a simple "streaming client" running on the Playstations. This would kill Sony's business model overnight and put devs out of their job. It just won't happen. Sony won't allow PC games on a PlayStation platform. Will never happen. No licenses from those games, and competing with native playstation titles - where they make money off.

If this would be the focus, Gaikai I mean, then we won't see a PS4. Simple. You'd simple build the cheapest machine you can get to make it a thin client and invest heavily into server infrastructure and services. You can't have both. A sophisticated and relatively expensive console and streaming services which competes with it.

Gaikai might be used, but I believe it will re-factor core components and integrate it into Sony's entertainment network. It could make a way into the playstation (in the PS4 with some server components; e.g. some added HD to encode and stream a game - could match with the rumor you can record 15 minutes of game play), and on the older Playstations in form of a new "remote play" client. Plus additional services like content (Music, Video, etc) streaming. Everything else I would say is a pipe dream. This would replace Remote Play and expand this service into and above what WiiU or MS's Smart Glass is.