Sony exec: Cloud gaming 'absolutely inevitable'
updated 02:56 am EDT, Mon June 18, 2012
No comment on partnerships, streaming, but sees it coming
Sony appears to be either preparing its own cloud gaming service or aware of the trend and looking to take advantage of it sometime soon. Speaking with GamesIndustry International during E3, Sony Worldwide Studios vice president Scott Rohde said the company recognizes that cloud gaming "just makes sense," and that cloud services in general are "absolutely inevitable." Rohde wouldn't delve into specifics, but he did say that the next five years should see the cloud emerging as a dominant force in virtually all computing sectors.
Rohde had no comment on any potential game streaming services or partnerships. However, the Sony exec did note a lack of parity in Internet connection quality around the world, a reality that could make a cloud streaming service less attractive to potential customers in some markets. His comments on the "inevitability" of cloud gaming, though, strongly indicate that Sony is taking the feature seriously, even though there is no word on whether it will materialize in this generation of consoles or the next.
Rohde's comments lend credence to earlier suspicions that Sony was planning a move into the cloud gaming sector. The company was recently rumored to be close to acquiring either OnLive or Gaikai, both of which are cloud gaming companies with small but significant user bases, experience in game streaming, and an existing streaming infrastructure. Worldwide Studios head Shuhei Yoshida recently said that Sony was looking closely at what OnLive is doing, the technology supporting OnLive's operations, and whether or not these things could be a part of Sony's PlayStation platform.
