Video game streaming: is it worth it?

Microsoft, Google and several others are vying to be the 'Netflix of video games', but what advantages are on offer for players?

Streaming video games is an idea with such obvious advantages that like virtual reality, motion controls and 3D screens, it had already hit the market several times before it was technologically possible: witness the untimely demise of OnLive in 2015. The big question facing Microsoft and Google, both of which showed off their entries into the "cloud gaming" market at the E3 video game conference in Los Angeles last month, is whether they've taken the plunge at the right time, or whether they, too, will be chalked up in history as premature entrants.

After playing with Microsoft's Project xCloud and Google's Stadia, we can draw some conclusions but others will have to wait. Both services are aiming at different targets, and based on the idealised situations in which they were presented, they each achieve their goals. But not everything is in their hands. No plan survives contact with the enemy, and no streaming service has yet survived contact with the realities of home broadband.