Hello,
With the launch of the Xbox Series X and PS5 this week I’ve been thinking about gaming’s future. It looks like these machines are going to bring prettier graphics and more technologically impressive games, but they feel like more of the same to me.
The big innovation I see on the horizon is cloud gaming. It’ll give access to a lot more data that developers can use and sell.
What is cloud gaming?
Right now, when someone loads a game on a console the console’s processors do all the work to render it. Cloud gaming would make a basement full of servers do the work instead, and the console would just act more like a streaming device. This would allow for faster, cheaper, and smoother video game experiences.
It would also mean that all of the button presses, character selections, and in-game success rates would be sent to sent to these servers instead of a living room console. Giving gaming companies way more data to use.
What are you saying about my data!?
Currently, game companies can track WHAT we game. In other words, they might know that I play Super Smash Bros for four hours a week, but not much else. A company can still do a lot with that. That probably puts me in a pithily named consumer group. The weekly competitor, someone who stokes his competitive fire with every button press on the weekends to supplement his mundane real life.
Cloud gaming is going to make it easier to track HOW we game. That’s a big upgrade. In addition to seeing that I play Super Smash Bros for four hours a week, a company would know I prefer characters in their alternative outfits, that I pause the game during big live sports moments, and I only use characters that were in the franchise before 2008. That’s a much more targetted story they could tap into. Companies would be able to infer that I’m someone with a short attention span who uses Super Smash Bros to complement the dull moments in televised events by tapping into childhood nostalgia.
What does this mean for my brand?
At the moment, most gaming data is kept private with game publishers and developers. As the cloud gaming industry grows and allows for companies to track more data I can see that changing. Just look at how much money social media has made selling our data to advertisers. Cloud gaming has the potential to allow game companies to tap into that revenue stream. To me, that seems like too big of a money maker to pass up.
It’s entirely possible cloud gaming opens up a whole new category of media agencies that allow brands to precision target people through their in-game behaviors. The creativity coming out of these places could be hyper-relevant, and fun as they start to dimensionalize the meaning behind the weird gaming habits we have.
It’s not all roses though. There aren’t many people who are jumping with excitement about the possibility of more data being collected on them. I don’t know if gaming could have a scandal as big as Cambridge Analytica, but the possibility exists.
What could a company possibly do with the knowledge that when I play Binding of Isaac I prefer to use Lilith, that I have the character-specific achievement for 80% of the heroes in Overwatch, and I’ve never finished a Mario game? It’d be like someone figuring out to manipulate me through the memes I’ve liked on Facebook. That could never happen.
What to takeaway:
Cloud gaming is going to shake up the industry in some interesting ways. One that I’m betting on is that there will be a lot more player data available for non-endemic brands to use. Make sure your organization is one of the good actors when that data becomes available.
Gaming news that caught my eye:
The Verge: People have found out that you can blow vape smoke through their Xbox Series X. Microsoft asked them to stop. I say let them. It’s their $500 console they’re ruining. Not mine.
The Next Web: Something that has been interesting to me about the game, Spider-Man: Miles Morales is how people are talking about Miles as if he’s a real person. I’m really starting to wonder if in advance of his next movie Sony goes ahead and makes him a full-fledged, virtual influencer.
Amazon: Join me and the millions of others who refreshed their browsers all day yesterday only to not get a next-gen console. Is this how sneakerheads feel every week?
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Email: zacharystubblefield@yahoo.com
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