Gaikai. This could just be revolutionary.
1. “Wow this new game is out, latest graphics engine, I wonder what the minimum specs are to run it? I hope I can play it, my machine is a bit old, let’s see, minimum specs – a web browser. I can manage that!”
2. Do I ever need a games console again?
Pay for expensive hardware that goes out of date within 5 years or so? Why not just get a small, cheap box with a few minimum specs that’s always up to date?
3. Reduce platform development costs
As a developer, I have to get my game working on 2, 3 or more formats. I’m not always optimizing when I do that, and it makes the process more expensive. What if there was no PS3, PC, 360 and Wii to develop for and I could just make one version, as polished as I can make it?
4. Avoid limiting your market
Sure a developer wants to make the best game they can, using all the technology has to offer – but doing that means you have to be anxious about limiting your market. Check Valve’s survey to see just how few have state of the art, and how many are on 4 year old tech. Can you really afford to leave potential customers behind? No longer an issue.
5. Easy demos
I’d love to try out a game, but downloading and installing a demo is a pain to find I don’t like it anyway. Fire up the demo and be playing within 5 minutes? Sure, why not!
6. One step back from the pirates
The software is never downloaded, so can’t be copied. A little more security for the game.
7. Play anywhere
I no longer need “own” the game on just one machine, I can call it up on any machine, regardless of its specs.
8. Pay as you go
There could be a subscription based approach. The more I play a game, the more of my money it gets. Maybe I have a flat rate fee,that gets shared out to the games I play. I can afford to try and play games I would never have bought outright (yet I won’t need to pirate them to do so.) Perhaps I can “pay by the hour” and if I don’t play a game a lot, I still have access to it for less than the outright purchase price. If I play a game at its expected average (and this would depend on how big the game is), I would pay around the same as full price.
Lots of different possible rental / subscription type models could benefit both developers and players.
