Sony Interactive Entertainment first party and Cloud Strategy powered by Microsoft Azure

https://www.videogameschronicle.com...has-been-quietly-investing-in-ps5-exclusives/

Sony grows first party studio to release more games and they are ready to do some acquisition

https://www.vgc.news/news/jim-ryan-...-that-will-be-unique-and-only-on-playstation/

New cloud strategy using Azure server

https://www.businesswire.com/news/h...active-Entertainment-for-AAA-Multiplayer-Game

https://blog.playstation.com/2021/0...or-a-new-original-multiplayer-ip/#sf245203152

Sony announce a new AAA multiplayer game with a new studio funded in 2018 by some ex Bungie dev

 

I can't believe somebody wrote "Sony" and "cloud strategy" in the same sentence.

 

The strategy is based on the partnership with Microsoft for Azure Server and PSNow begins to stream PS4 games at 1080p this week

 

https://uploadvr.com/jim-ryan-next-gen-vr-strategic-opportunity/

 

Seems very much like 2013 but with the names swapped...

 

I am really intrigued about what they are planning to do with their cloud stuff, having things that are "unique and only on PlayStation" obviously doesn't say much, beyond that it will differ materially from xbox's strategy (presumably)

Nothing really comes to mind that sony could do in the cloud space that xbox hasn't already talked about, I wonder what they are planning?

Anyone have any guesses?

 

What are they even talking about? What Cloud services MS has on Xbox the Playstation hasn't already in some form? Can you even stream Xbox games on Xbox? Is Xcloud available yet?

 

They're talking about the reach and extent of Azure.

Yes.

 

assuming you are asking what sort of things microsoft has talked about with leveraging xcloud/azure in general, I'll list a few of the top of my head in no particular order:

• Stream the game using xcloud while you are downloading the game in the background
• stream the game to your console to try something out without downloading it
• stream pc games to your pc, and presumably your xbox via the edge browser
• azure enabling much larger multiplayer experiences that would not be possible in conventional ways, just because of the sheer bandwidth that would be required to keep all the players worlds coordinated
• azure running physics sims that wouldnt be possible on console (the original "power of the cloud")
• if you buy a digital copy of a game and also have a game pass ultimate subscription, you will be able to stream your game over xcloud, even if its not on the service
• free cloud saves
• using azure to run persistent NPCs/worlds in single player games (so the game world would continue to exist and evolve even if your not currently playing)
• there are a few more that i missed

I'm not writing this to list war or anything, just to list out the things that microsoft has mentioned, off the top of my head, in an effort to come up with something that sony could do that is unique to them

Maybe some way that you could share your saves from a single player game with a friend in some limited way?


I got nothing

 

Are all of those services already available on Xbox Series?

 

not all, but since we are comparing playstations future cloud offerings, its appropriate to compare it to xbox's future cloud offerings

 

I'm anti-cloud gaming. No matter the platform.

I say that while also getting rid of all my old CDs, as they're cluttering the house. My opinion may change when they can fix (like seriously fix) the latency issues. I think I'm very sensitive to input delays.

 

Yep the main problem is latency. My second problem is compression.

Why should I trust Microsoft of any of their current promises about the Cloud?

 

Are you saying Sony are fools for trusting Microsoft? They must have seen something there they couldn't find elsewhere.

 

Its not like any of these claims that microsoft have talked about are particularly outlandish, they arent saying "by the power of the cloud you can get a native 8k experience on an xbox one" All of the things that I listed have obvious implementations, they dont need to invent anything for these things, its just combining existing technologies.


You have said several times that you dont think cloud gaming is the future and that you are sensitive to latency, and thats fine, I dont think cloud gaming is the future, but I do think it will be part of the future, consoles, PCs and the like will still exist for you to buy if you want a native experience, no one is taking that away from anyone.

Besides, two of the things I listed aren't affected by latency, the first being to use the cloud to keep persistent single player worlds running while the player isnt playing, and the second being the game save sharing idea. Using the cloud to keep a game world running only essentially requires cloud saves, when your done playing on your console the save is uploaded to the cloud, and then some server opens your save and keeps it running, and the reverse for when you want to play again, nothing that would be affected by latency.


using cloud technologies for gaming =/= game streaming

 

Xcloud works great when your on the go with a good internet connection. I wouldn't replace a console or pc when at home nor would I replace a more powerful handheld like a aya neo. I think for a lot of people it could be a fine replacement for travel or of upgrading from an older xbox / playstation. I know a few people who bought game pass to play skyrim on their tv and some other games since they only have an xbox 360 .

As for using azure in locally run games. I still think there is something to be said for using it to enhance certain elements of the game. To add more physics destruction or more realistic grass or more grass . Even weather effects. Stuff that if the connection slows you wouldn't really notice is gone but helps to add more depth to the visual portion of the game

 

You know you can buy the 360 version of Skyrim for a couple of bucks,

 

Just to add, Flight Simulator is literally the poster child for this sort of thing, when using real time (ie cloud hosted) weather the in game weather is simply phenomenal, whereas if you use a preset weather setting it still looks good, but the weather doesn't transition at all when you traverse the world, everywhere is the same degree and severity of stormy

 

I couldn't agree more, but it's also a use of cloud which does not demand low-latency or frame-precision computation. This is what may hold back cloud-augmented processing for actions games in the near future. You already have controller-input latency, then there is the latency required by the engine to react to played input and have the world react accordingly, then there is latency for the rendering the world for your TV. Many games already have lengthy latency from controller-input to world rendering so adding in latency of sending data to the cloud, processing in the cloud, data returning from the cloud will limit use for the time being.

There is likely a bunch of stuff that isn't latency-dependant that game designers really have not thought much about and it'll be interesting to see what they come up with in the short-term.

 

That doesn't sound like a benefit of cloud but rather developers deciding to not vary weather or simulate any kind of real world changes? The benefit of cloud is to have accurate real-time weather based on the location but the lack of transition isn't the fault of no cloud.