timppu: Exactly, and currently the money is not in streaming gaming services.
Also, even if many developers would sign up to some streaming services, why wouldn't they also release the game on non-streaming services? That is exactly what happened with Onlive, it wasn't the only place where you could "buy" e.g. Arkham Asylum/City or Saints Row 3.
Of course they would, most absolutely would. The only games you'd likely see exclusive would be first party games, though there are several games right now with exclusive modes (like grid 40 player or Football manager allowing more leagues in a save or something).
timppu: Your suggestion was that publishers would rush into streaming services exclusively. Why would they, if they could make even more money by selling both in a streaming and non-streaming service?
Nonsense, I never said this. Initially that's absolutely not going to be the case, but as long as it keeps growing, it's a matter of time. Initially with first party or moneyhatted title. As long as one of the services keeps growing there's going to come a time where a small developer can say 'I have a neat cloud game idea and this market is big enough that it'd be worth it to me to do so'.
Of course you'll have the regular temporary 'exclusive' title as well. That already started with Gylt and soon Orcs Must Die! 3.
timppu: Only if their customers were there. The hen and egg problem.
Agree, but there's people buying into this right on several services right now, and the more normal it becomes, the more people will start doing it. Even if it's only for 1 game at first. You have to realize, there's no buy-in for this. You don't need a set of hardware, just buy it and play. There's a fair number of people out there, and probably more than you seem to think, who only have a certain console, or little more than a basic laptop, and no way to properly play new games. Some of those are today playing Red Dead Redemption 2 on their old laptop or their TV and quite a few have mentioned that they're keeping an eye on it to play Cyberpunk as well, because they won't have the hardware to play it when it comes out.
There's also people who just want to flexibility of being able to launch a browser somewhere and start playing, or who have a Mac where streaming allows them to play games they otherwise wouldn't have been able to, or people who simply don't have the money to upfront for a piece of hardware to be able to play on (I find this a weak argument since you'll pay for it through the games but it gets made a lot nonetheless).
And don't be mistaken here, the most recent one to step into this is Google. They've already started advertising on the basic Chrome page and once they set up for demo's which they plan to do anyone watching a Youtube video could have a button right there with a demo for the game allowing them to jump in right then and there to test it. That kind of presence has a big chance to become very infuential.
timppu: And even then, why wouldn't they release their games also on non-streaming services, to the people who don't join the streaming service?
Of course, but not everyone is like you and me with a gaming PC on hand. I also find little value in the service right now but I'm not naieve enough to see that there's a possible market for it right now. Not one that's going to take over the main PC market any time soon, but there's no need for that, all it needs to do, for now, is become a smaller but commercially viable one, and it'll keep growing from there.
timppu: What could attract masses of gamers to streaming services (and leaving behind Steam etc.) would be that they could play lots of AAA games cheaper there, than they can by playing them on their console or buying from Steam. The big question is: will it be cheaper on a streaming service?
This is why I'm not happy with Google Stadia's pricing scheme right now. They're definitely going for full priced games like a normal store. It's not a model I'm interested in, especially with an unproven store. However, Xcloud is going to be included with Microsoft Gamepass. That's a monthly sub model with a huge library of games *and* day 1 access to first party titles which is going to include Wasteland 3 and Phoenix point for example.
timppu: I don't believe gamers are as stupid as you suggest. The death of OnLive already proved that. People didn't flock into it when they realized it would cost them more to play there, than buying the same game for their console or PC.
Different times imo, as someone above mentioned, there's a ton of casual gamers now who see value in this because it allows them to play anywhere (with internet), and they don't have to deal with downloads, updates etc.
No need to believe me on game streaming imo, just keep watching. As far as I can tell, it's just going to keep growing.
