Cloud gaming is a natural shift that is going to happen for gamers as 5G networks reach more parts of the world. How telcos monetise this is something that’s left to them. But one thing that most gamers would prefer is cloud streaming over hardware upgrades as long as the connectivity they are getting is strong. Even the data centre companies would play a role here as computing resources at the network’s edge would be important to bring the streaming closer to gamers and offer a lag-free/real-time experience. TSPs in India would soon start deploying 5G networks. One of the most obvious use cases of 5G is cloud gaming, and Vodafone Idea (Vi) even demonstrated cloud gaming with Nokia in the media event held in November 2021 in Pune, Maharashtra. Indians are buying more and more 5G smartphones even though 5G hasn’t been launched yet. This means that the Indian TSPs would have a ready market in their hands when they start rolling out 5G. Online multiplayer gaming is already famous in India, but cloud gaming would be a new concept, especially if the users need to pay for it. There could be many ways Indian TSPs could monetise cloud gaming. It could come as a monthly subscription fee, or it could be bundled with mobile plans or more. What would matter here is that 5G connectivity offered to the consumers is strong, even indoors, or else cloud gaming won’t be as successful. For this, telcos can definitely use network slicing technology.
Network Slicing Could Enable Better Performance for Gamers
With 5G, telcos could use network slicing technology for cloud gaming. Thus, whenever a user accesses cloud gaming on his/her portable device, he/she could be assigned a differentiated slice of the 5G network optimised for cloud gaming needs. The edge infrastructure would also enable the workload execution to happen closer to the users, which would contribute to reducing lag times between gamer commands and subsequent actions.
