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Squilliam on 27 December 2012
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KHlover said:
Squilliam said:
KHlover said:
Squilliam said:

Thanks.

@Bold:

Gaikai is an extremely significant purchase. I had some rough thoughts here:

I think people here REALLY overestimate Gaikai. It could be big in the future, but currently it will only be niche. There is one significant reason for it: Streaming services use up way too much bandwith. (Check out these: http://www.hometheater.com/content/how-much-bandwidth-do-you-need-streaming-video ; http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2010/04/denial_of_service.html) I´ve also seen a reddit.com - discussion where thousands of people (mostly in the US) complained about the low speeds aviable, so unless a REALLY big step is taken and internet with more than ~5Mbps UPLOAD is aviable everywhere, Gaikai will not be the big hitter you all hope it to be :(

Well within 8 years 70% of the population in my country will have access to 100Mbps internet. So you could say that we're up to 8 years away from Gaikai going from irrelevant to relevant. So whilst you could argue that Sony has done some dumb moves in the past, an investment in Gaikai probably isn't one of them. If you consider places in the world like Europe who are investing in fibre to the home and the popularity of the brand Playstation in Europe then you can see why Gaikai could be seen as a good investment.

Think about this:  The entry cost for someone to play PS3/PS4 games could be $10 a month and the hardware can be thrown in with the subscription with absolutely no upfront cost.

Yeah, New Zealand will reach this goal. Most countries in Europe could reach it as well. But I don't see the US coming anywhere close to this in the next years if they don't change things there massively. It's a mess. Or take Canada, where most of the flatrates are capped at 10GB or something like that (search for canadians in the WiiU launch threads for references). What I want to say: Internet in the biggest of the three markets isn't nearly advanced enough for Gaikai. Also, even IF 70% of the population will have internet fast enough for gaikai (which I doubt) by 2018, Gaikai still wouldn't be avaible to the other 30%. Those people would be absolutely PISSED, I don't think Sony would risk that. In conclusion: While I think gaikai IS an extremely valuable investment for Sony, it won't benefit from it with the PS4. Too many people who couldn't access it. However, I think by the time the PS5 arrives the stage for gaikai will be set. And it will be...AWESOME^^    

There is a strong correlation between people who want fast internet access and a desire to play games. Your market for games is also the same market whom will want to get fast broadband to access said games. It doesn't matter so much that entire markets won't be able to access Gaikai as long as enough people are able to access it to make it worthwhile and that number is growing rapidly. It doesn't need to replace the PS4 but it can certainly complement it and one thing Sony needs to do is move beyond being limited to selling games only to people who bought their console. It won't matter so much in 2012 that they own Gaikai now but by the middle of next gen (2016) it could be the equivalent of more than 10M consoles.



Tease.