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Why games are going F2P? Cloud Computing?
Preponerance
Member Posts: 295
I honestly believe that most games are forever going to be F2P because of cloud computing. My thoughts are running rampid so forgive the sparse structure.
Imagine this, you can be anywhere and play the game from any computer/mobile phone/ipad regardless of OS as long as it has stellar connection (some places not so stellar) to the net. All the games you want to play are easily accessible through clouds. No downloads, no patching, nothing but connection and interfaces.
Since your not going to have to download anything why pay for it cause your not going to own it. However If you want to personalize your "Avatar" you can buy in game items (cash shops) and you can do it at anytime because your not paying for the game anyhow and can log in from anywhere. That leads to making most games where you have to pay for something in order to reach a certain level or status plus the "vanity" items.
Log into the cloud play any game from anywhere and buy that $25 dollar mount because your not spending money anyway.
Plus with Facebook integrating into everything, eventually your avatar is going to be you in every game. Hell Blizzard made a fine example of that with the RealID.
And I think "Avatars" and your online persona will be one more likely with your real name or some shit. But I guess that's another discussion
Comments
Last I checked, "cloud computing" didn't refer to some kind of hardware, and instead referred to graphical technology that uses a cloud of points that uses an algortythm to only show the ones required per-frame.
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Maybe wrong terminology......
www.onlive.com
Copy from site...
Powerful Gaming Made Easy
Connect to OnLive with your TV, PC or Mac® or TV and play games instantly
Games run over the Internet from state-of-the-art OnLive game data centers
Controller action and game play are relayed up and down the Internet at blindingly fast speeds
Enjoy instant game play on your PC, Mac® or TV. No high-end hardware required
Edit: Cloud Gaming.... they are doing the same for software bundles too
You are right, OnLive is a great example of cloud computing. It is, literally "Computing in the Cloud" as I've heard many professionals that work with it say. Essentially, everything is on a server that you access. Like the most kick-ass flash game ever.
I got into the founders program on OnLive, and it is stellar. The graphics are kind of fuzzy, but the control lag is just nothing. It's really great. Improvements need to be made though. And you DO pay for games on OnLive. You NEVER own a game. You, do not OWN one game. You may own a copy of the code and a physical disc. But you DO NOT OWN the game. You own a LICENSE to play the game. This is especially prevalent with Steam and digital services. I do not own these games, I own a license to play them when I want to. That's what OnLive sells, a license to play the game.
Cloud computing really does seem to be a big part of the future, but not the future. Games on the HDD are still quicker, more responsive, and easier to manage. It will take people a long time to warm up to cloud gaming. Longer than it has taken to warm up to digital distribution. I'm not onboard with cloud gaming yet, because I like my games here and now. Whenever I want, internet connection or not. The great thing with cloud gaming, is with the game being "In the Cloud" I can jump on my friend's junky Windows XP laptop and play some APB or EVE or... something. And with the internet so prevalent it's EVERYWHERE, I'm never without it. On the other hand, when I am, I'd be gameless.
You have a heck of a thought train though! It makes perfect sense MMOs are headed into the cloud gaming fray and it makes sense to be F2P once you get there.
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I understand the importance of it, I have a family friend that does it for a living small company out of Austin. I would love to get in on the Clouds as a career. A lot of people cloud on their iPhone, my brother is the creator of BOTL.org which is a cigar site. But the forums he runs are flashed base and in order for him to access on his iPhone which now no longer supports flash, he can do on a cloud from his phone (edit: if he wasn't at home. but he has a mac too so still if they decide to end flash period for mac, he could cloud from home or change the forum I suppose.)
Edit:Edit: I'm also in the founders program.
I don't think it matter. you can still have subscription based game in cloud computing.
So which MMO can you play on cloud computing right now?
If there's none, it means games are not going f2p because of cloud computing. It might be in the future. That remains to be seen.
I don't think could gaming will make games any more F2P. The server processing time and bandwith needed for each user playing OnLive are so high, that unlike todays F2P MMOs, the system couldn't be profitable with large amount of users paying nothing. There will be some kind of monthly fee/hourly fee to the server provider, and in addition to that extra fees to game makers.
Cloud computing will not do anything to lower upkeep costs, if anything it will increase upkeep costs. Since you are not downloading and installing the games to your hard drive, then that means more information is required to pass through the internet onto your PC. The less you start with, the more you need to obtain every time you play.
This means companies will need to up their bandwidth by a significant amount, costing them more upkeep, costing you a monthly fee. If all games turn to F2P it will not be because of cloud computing, instead it will be decided by the free market deciding they would rather pay to play in the form of buying items with real money instead of just handing over 15 dollars a month.
East Carolina University, Computer Science BS, 2011
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Kind of what I was speculating. I see a lot of potential and a future worth looking into.
You won't see cloud computing until you see the cable and wireless companies upgrade their networks. Currently only about 5% of the network users have good enough internet connections to do so. Cloud won't be cheap either, they need expensive infrastructure at the server end to do so. So don't expect to see much free to play with cloud.
I'm thinking way ahead here. I agree, but bandwidth and usage will increase overtime, eventually a grid with endless usage, almost as if you were always on.
To go to the store is free other than getting there. But in order to get content you have to pay for it.
I don't think both concepts are linked or have any impact on each other in between cloud computing and paid subscription.
At first I was gonna reply to your post but I'll let Larry Ellison Co-Founder and CEO of Oracle answer your question:
This is a YouTube Link: Larry Ellison - What the Hell Is Cloud Computing?
Everyone laughed at the huge cellphone people carried in the late 80's early 90's look at it now, everything has it's popularity. Depending how it's implemented and put to use there is nothing wrong with it. Making everything more accessible isn't really a bad thing.
Edited: I hated the fact I used WoW for an analogy.
I guess I should have elaborated, Cloud Computing/Software-As-Service is not going to end the Buy-to-Play or Pay-to-Play paradigm, it is just another way to make a profit, if it can make any that is. On the topic of being free, There aint no such thing as a free lunch. If this service can't be monetized the only thing it kills will be itself.
I agree the first few years. Just technology needs to catch up, well not catch up but implemented everywhere first. If you make everything accessible, easy to use, and cheap it equals more profit. I consider F2P games open trials, while some you don't need to buy anything to progress most of the F2P titles are changing the gameplay so you HAVE to purchase items and therefor spend money. I don't remember the post but one forum poster was very pissed about endgame changing and having to spend a ton of RL money on pots in I think it was Wizard101. Unfortunately, I foresee most of the gaming models becoming like this.
Eventually you won't need a sub for the game because it's free to get in. See you won't have to buy a license to play it just the cloud service to access it from anywhere. Every cloud service would have these games on their server because they generate more traffic and more traffic = money. And if you make it easier to get on then people are more likely to spend money on it.
Now I have to use a WoW example -.- Ease of use and the specifications on a computer to run it is rather low. But mainly accessibility/easy to use = more traffic, more traffic = more advertising and since your already on a the net might as well go buy what you keep getting rammed into your head.
I think the downside however to "clouding" is going to be.......the data centers are in control of what your able to see. But that's a whole nother discussion also.
Sorry, I like talking about this shit.
Also couple that with
Raptr - article written by Beau Hindman (who used to write here, blogging)
And you can be waiting on a doctors appointment and see what your friends are playing. Send them a quick message and bam he's in LA, your other friend is in Holland and your waiting to get seen and you are all playing DFO.
Onlive is cloud computing for the gaming industry and it works pretty darn well for new tech, oh and with a minor tweak I have been running it across my wireless on my laptop at home without a problem. How it will impact the MMO and F2P space is an unkown. I don't think it will have any impact on the F2P space from an infrastructure cost standpoint. Cloud gaming could have an impact on barrier to entry for consumers who can't afford to upgrade PCs etc. Accesability is really what it is about, being able to create options for a larger audience.
Actually that link didn't say anything other than making sarcastic remark. I find that link totally unnecessary.
I understand what Larry Ellison is saying. If you read his other video, he basically says in terms of business, cloud computing is basically things that's already happening, and people are just now giving it a new "fashion" name.
But in relation to gaming, it actually is something new. Because cloud computing while isn't new, cloud gaming is actually something new. You can't deny OnLive is really the first pioneer to "popularize" this idea.
But your right cloud computing itself dont' really have anything about games being f2p or p2p. Also it's probably not going to be cheap. Try to imagine having an infrustructure capable of running 1 million games simultaneously and stream the video to players all over the world. The initial cost don't look cheap.
Not to mention it's probably not very responsive with poor video quality. Though, I don't know that for sure. I never actually use OnLive before.
Onlive recommends 3Mbps connection and be 1000 miles from the data server. They said the tests they ran the latency is around 150ms
Oh don't be sorry for wanting to talk about this topic.
You could have a point, but please don't bring up the Cloud because it's just muddying the waters. I agree with Larry Ellison that cloud is just a marketing buzzword and is nothing new or special.
The reason that the current paradigm will not die is FarmVille and Wii. Do you think Halo/Moder Warfare palyers stopped playing and jumped on FarmVille or Wii? No they didn't. This whole Web/Browser/Cloud/Casual is a different paradigm, it makes the gaming market bigger, it doesn't take from another segment, it doesn't make another segment obsolete, it bring new players, like Wii.
Another reason for that is that visual fidelity. With the trend (this thrend also applies to TVs, like the move from 480 analog to 1080 digital) being games moving from 8-bit visuals (pong, and such) to current day stunners (Crysis and such) do you think people will reverse this trend and go back to worse quality? Do you think a server 5000 miles away can deliver the same performance as a PC next to my monitor?
But to be honest we're trying to predict the future, a future that is based on market forces, and only fools attempt that.
I have a full HD monitor and I've had a 3 Mbps connection (this slow connection taught me that digital distro is not the slayer of brick and mortar) and it took me ages to stream an HD video on youtube. And while that was happening everyone was complaining "why are teh interwebz so slow?". So I call the above quote total BS, pure unadulterated BS.
Just moving from 1600x1200 to 1900x1200 put some strain on my 8800 GTX. Do you really think that cloud can deliver?
The only infrastructure that will make cloud gaming a reality is a gaming pc in every subscriber's house.
So to those that have run OnLive before, how is it?
Runnable, lag free, but fuzzy graphic?
It's possible but I didn't say it, they did..
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-onlive-lag-analysis
Edit: I stand corrected, it's was 5Mbps, should have looked it up before posting numbers.
My math is probably wrong, don't know a whole lot about video stuff...
1900X1200 = 2,280,000 pixels
24 bits for color encoding per pixel
24 * 2,280,000 = 54,720,000 = 54 Mb. Without compression.
need 30 to 60 of these frames per second... Just posting this so maybe someone with a clue will post good numbers if these are wrong.
Here's hoping the trend of data caps does not continue.
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If this happens my gaming career ends i wont go that road.
I doub whole hardware industry like nvidia ati intel and all others want this to happen?
Games played:AC1-Darktide'99-2000-AC2-Darktide/dawnsong2003-2005,Lineage2-2005-2006 and now Darkfall-2009.....
In between WoW few months AoC few months and some f2p also all very short few weeks.