A streaming games service â âcloud gaming,â as the buzzphrase has it â is on Microsoftâs horizon but, for the near-term, itâs not something that can be reasonably delivered to a local-machine user, said the Europe boss for Xbox Live.
Speaking at the London Games Festival, Jerry Johnson told an audience at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts that cloud gaming, such as the on-demand OnLive platform announced at GDC 2009, isnât a mass market likelihood âfor the foreseeable future.â
âThe technology will continue to improve,â Johnson said. âAs an industry weâll have to accept that and move with it â but I donât think itâs on an accelerated timeline for the foreseeable future.â
Johnsonâs remarks came during a panel discussion of âDigital Distribution and the Future of the European Games Marketâ at the London Games Conference. As trendy topics go, this one set out to answer when digital downloads might overtake retail sales of boxed games.
Analyst Nick Parker said that might happen around 2014. He also said, speculatively of course â because that is what analysts do â that it wouldnât surprise him to see âone new entrantâ to the console game â namely, Apple, Inc. â produce a dedicated console. Apple gamers such as myself shrugged and/or snorted.
Microsoft Dismisses âCloud Gamingâ, Analyst Predicts Apple Console [TechRadar]
