Even if the experience was identical to native I wouldn't play cloud versions since I care too much about ownership. Same reason I don't use subscription services.

Just to be Devil's advocate, never enjoyed Game of Thrones or Breaking bad? Those come from HBO, one of the oldest subscription services. But at least you can buy those and they appeared elsewhere later.

The problem will be games exclusive to subscription services just as we now have movies and series exclusive to select video subscription services. Shows are not all that time sensitive, a competitive game is. Even a single player game can easily be spoiled (but to be fair, so can tv shows)

I just hope it doesn't lead to waiting for physical releases for years after it has already streamed. I'm waiting for The Expanse S5, which started last December on Amazon Prime and still doesn't have a blu-ray release date. I had to fall back to DVD to get The Orville Season 2...

It will be a shitty future for physical releases when xCloud, PS Now, Amazon, Netflix and other game streaming services become big. So I won't be supporting it, but I do see the appeal. Netflix is just easier to put on than a blu-ray and is built into every tv nowadays. Yet then you put on a 4K HDR blu-ray and fall back in amazement what you've been missing while streaming :/

Oh well, convenience and price have always trumped quality. Streaming is the future unfortunately. I'll enjoy physical releases while I can.

I haven't seen those though aside from anime I barely watch tv shows. To be more clear I don't actually buy physical media since having access to something like my Steam library is enough for me though I fully get why someone would wanna not just avoid subscription and cloud stuff but also digital. 

It will really suck when game streaming gets big and more and more games are made exclusive to cloud services. Google has done that a little bit with Stadia and that's already too far.

I've been burned by Apple and Sony when it comes to digital media.

For Apple, I cannot re-download hundreds of game apps from the app store. For context, I added most old ipod games to our database and was very enthusiastic about the state of mobile gaming at the time. Most games are out of print now, and can't be redownloaded. The VGChartz database serves as a memorial of sorts and some of the only evidence of some games existence.

For Sony, they screwed me by shutting down their music store after I had spent money on it. Understandable, because it was a massive failure, but my song library is lost forever.

So no, I am physical all the way now, baby. Only exception would be Steam because I have more trust in privately owned Valve.

Edit: also I remember onlive and have tried that and PSNow. Not impressed with streaming options, especially if we are talking consistency.

BS Zelda. Mega Man Wily Wars were exclusive to streaming services on Super Famicom and Mega Drive. Wily Wars has recently been re-released thankfully in physical form for Genesis but nothing else yet. Just a couple of games from the early 90s when steaming games was not mainstream. Now in 2021, I hate to imagine in several years how many services failed or games removed.


Take something like Good and Evil 2. Let's say it does come out and is very good but exclusive to Amazon Luna or Stadia. They own the publishing rights for whatever reason. The service shuts down and all access is lost. I can see this becoming more and more common if cloud is allowed to continue like this. It should be an alt with no exclusives.

I love cloud but it's factual that cloud gaming will never have the same specs of top notch local dedicated hardware

As I don't mind much for high end quality stuff I'm ok with playing with cloud, if the latency is good enough to provide a fulfilling experience

You would have the same issue locally if the power goes out.

That's a weird response... Cause when the power comes back... You can continue playing if it happens locally...

Compare that to when the cloud provider shutsdown their servers for good... You won't be able to play your game ever again.

Can you give a real example of when a cloud service shut down and the customers could no longer play what they owned?

Dont pay your phone bill, your phone no longer works

Dont pay your electricity, your electronics dont work

Dont pay your Netflix, you cannot watch your shows

Dont pay your Gaming Sub, cant play Multiplayer

Dont pay your Gas provider.. 

You get the idea.

Bigger problems to worry about than worrying about Billion dollar companies closing thier Cloud services. 

Using the xCloud, I have 1Gb down and 250Mb up fibre (through 2.5 Gb - Cat6 cable, direct ethernet connection to my router, so no bottlenecks, best case scenario) and not only the image is more blurry, but the input delay is noticeable. The first one is most likely due to compression, but that's not a big problem, especially on a smaller screen. However, the second one is just too annoying for my liking. Not sure if has something to do with the server location, but it's ruining the fun for me. Physical is clearly far superior.