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Is SteamOS Valve's answer to Sonys cloud gaming?
1xok Aug 5, 2017
Sony is entering the cloud gaming market now with NOW:

https://www.playstation.com/en-us/explore/playstationnow/

For Sony it is relative easy to build up a game-streaming cloud. There PlayStation OS is based on FreeBSD not on Windows. This is an advantage that can hardly be underestimated.

Valve would have to build a corresponding Windows cluster if they want to offer all steam games via cloud gaming. Licensing costs and full dependency on Microsoft included.

I strongly doubt that Valve will do something like this. Microsoft would get more or less full control over Valve. That would not please Gabe at all. But what happens if cloud gaming takes a big piece of the cake in
the next few years? Streaming has become a very disruptive technology for music, films and other media. How many people will have an up-to-date gaming PC in 10 years?

In the past Valve has always expressed skepticism for streaming games. But I have not heard anything about the topic from them for a long time. In the past Windows was Valves only option, so streaming must have been a horrible idea for them in these days.

Sony and Nvida are already in the streaming game now. Where is Valve? What do they really plan with SteamOS? SteamOS has almost no market share but meanwhile every third steam game runs under SteamOS. Valve left the steam machines behind. But the in-home streaming they further developed. Even at the expense of the steam machines which they never promote well. Isn't this funny? Valves in-home streaming solution is moving into Samsung TVs now. But to use this you need a strong gaming PC at home.

Can Valve ignore cloud gaming in the future? Do they already work on a solution? Can SteamOS compete with Sony's PlayStation OS?

What do you think?
tuubi Aug 5, 2017
Don't know about Valve, but if I ignore cloud gaming long enough, will it get bored and go away?

In all seriousness, we've had all sorts of cloud gaming already in the form of web games and "thin clients" for MMO-type games and such, starting with MUDs and the like. I guess now that tech is finally making it possible, the current trend is to make everything run on servers/mainframes (again) and have gamers rent game time, but I doubt it'll actually replace traditional gaming any time soon. As I said (only half jokingly), I'll do my best to ignore it all, seeing as I'm slightly allergic to the whole concept of cloud computing.
1xok Aug 5, 2017
Quoting: tuubiDon't know about Valve, but if I ignore cloud gaming long enough, will it get bored and go away?
Hard to say. But imagine Valve's App for Samsung TVs would not only work for in-home streaming but also over the cloud. Everyone who ownes a new enough Samsung TV could play AAA Games by just plug-in a (bluetooth) controller.

Last night I played Sniper Elite 4 with someone co-op over my PS4. Even as a passionated Linux-Gamer I would have to lie, if I would say that this wasn't pure fun. And very easy. But not everyone buys a console. And nobody buys a steam machine. :(

So, Sony has created its Playstation NOW service. Its already a success in the some countries and comes now to Germany (my country).

Just think of grandchildren, who can play their games on grandma's TV. Or someone can play with other family members even if they do not have a Playstation or if none has a Playstation. How cool!

In the end you can not know. But I think that streaming will grow significantly stronger over the next 10 years than the classic PC and console gaming.

Quoting: tuubiIn all seriousness, we've had all sorts of cloud gaming already in the form of web games and "thin clients" for MMO-type games and such, starting with MUDs and the like.
Yes, but how will you play a really fun game like Sniper Elite with this technology or most other games from your steam library? So far, you could not stream such games because of the lack of bandwidth. But this reason falls more and more. Before you bought games in a shop. Then the Internet arrived. Now we have broadband connections and internet in almost every household.

The classic PC gaming will not become extinct. I get until to today games on DVD. But this market grows barely.
tuubi Aug 5, 2017
Quoting: PixelPiYes, but how will you play a really fun game like Sniper Elite with this technology or most other games from your steam library?
Well, you won't find anything resembling Sniper Elite in my library which might explain some of my reluctance. My gaming is 95% single player.

Quoting: PixelPiNow we have broadband connections and internet in almost every household.
Sure. Just keep in mind that many of us are on mobile broadband with horrid latencies or otherwise inadequate connections for real-time 1080p gaming over the internet. The problem isn't quite solved yet, even if it might be solved for a sufficiently large portion of the market.
slaapliedje Aug 5, 2017
Quoting: PixelPi
Quoting: tuubiDon't know about Valve, but if I ignore cloud gaming long enough, will it get bored and go away?
Hard to say. But imagine Valve's App for Samsung TVs would not only work for in-home streaming but also over the cloud. Everyone who ownes a new enough Samsung TV could play AAA Games by just plug-in a (bluetooth) controller.

Last night I played Sniper Elite 4 with someone co-op over my PS4. Even as a passionated Linux-Gamer I would have to lie, if I would say that this wasn't pure fun. And very easy. But not everyone buys a console. And nobody buys a steam machine. :(

So, Sony has created its Playstation NOW service. Its already a success in the some countries and comes now to Germany (my country).

Just think of grandchildren, who can play their games on grandma's TV. Or someone can play with other family members even if they do not have a Playstation or if none has a Playstation. How cool!

In the end you can not know. But I think that streaming will grow significantly stronger over the next 10 years than the classic PC and console gaming.

Quoting: tuubiIn all seriousness, we've had all sorts of cloud gaming already in the form of web games and "thin clients" for MMO-type games and such, starting with MUDs and the like.
Yes, but how will you play a really fun game like Sniper Elite with this technology or most other games from your steam library? So far, you could not stream such games because of the lack of bandwidth. But this reason falls more and more. Before you bought games in a shop. Then the Internet arrived. Now we have broadband connections and internet in almost every household.

The classic PC gaming will not become extinct. I get until to today games on DVD. But this market grows barely.

Wait, isn't this the same thing that Sony said was failed and they were canceling it? https://blog.us.playstation.com/2017/02/15/playstation-now-service-update/ I mean sure, it's still available if you buy a PS4.

Ha, as far as games on DVD... I have a picture to share;
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slaapliedje Aug 5, 2017
Quoting: tuubi
Quoting: PixelPiYes, but how will you play a really fun game like Sniper Elite with this technology or most other games from your steam library?
Well, you won't find anything resembling Sniper Elite in my library which might explain some of my reluctance. My gaming is 95% single player.

Quoting: PixelPiNow we have broadband connections and internet in almost every household.
Sure. Just keep in mind that many of us are on mobile broadband with horrid latencies or otherwise inadequate connections for real-time 1080p gaming over the internet. The problem isn't quite solved yet, even if it might be solved for a sufficiently large portion of the market.

For what it's worth, Sniper Elite has a FANTASTIC single player campaign. Though to be honest, I didn't even know it really did multiplayer. Pretty much my library is mostly single player games, with a bunch of local co-op games I play with my younger brother, and a crapload of games I got from Humble Bundle.
Ketil Aug 6, 2017
Internet isn't only too slow or have high latency, but too many ISPs are too unreliable. I lost my Internet for 2 hours yesterday without warning and was glad I had singleplayer games I could play at the time.

For a singleplayer game, a hybrid approach would be interesting as well. Say your computer is low end, but has hardware decoding support for a good video codec like h264 or h265. If you ran the game yourself you would only be able to run it in 640×360(nHD), but cloud can play in 3840×2160(4K UHD) transfering graphics through the video codec used. Then if the stream was disconnected you could, if you told it to in advance, continue playing in low resolution mode instead of disconnecting, and on the next connection, you upload the change of state, or a new savegame depending on what is easier.
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