THE RISE OF CLOUD GAMING: Cloud-based streaming is the next frontier in the video gaming ecosystem — here's why cloud service providers and telecoms are vying to tap the multibillion-dollar opportunity

This is a preview of The Rise of Cloud Gaming research report from Business Insider Intelligence.
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A disruptive competitive dynamic is poised to shake up the gaming industry, and it's centered on the cloud. Cloud-based streaming has generated significant buzz in the entertainment business throughout the last decade, rocking the media and music industries with the likes of Netflix and Spotify.

Now it's gaming's turn in the spotlight, with a number of cloud service providers and telecommunications companies revealing plans to enter the cloud gaming fray by launching their own services. These companies, each with unique advantages to disrupt the video gaming space, are largely driving the hype in the cloud gaming market.

Cloud gaming, by nature, is also enough to turn heads: It expands the audience for premium games beyond the current console and PC audience by making them accessible anywhere, at any time, and on any device. That huge addressable market is creating a lucrative and growing opportunity for companies gearing up to enter the space, providing a long runway for growth.

A convergence of technological and consumer behavioral forces is pushing cloud gaming to move the needle in the gaming industry, something it's failed to do in the past decade. Cloud gaming depends heavily on the cloud and connectivity — areas of strength for cloud service providers and telecoms that are launching their own services.

And advancements in connectivity standards and hardware functionality, new benefits to the end user over traditional gaming experiences, and the ability to meet gamers' evolving tastes are playing — and will continue to play — a significant role in helping cloud gaming reach its full potential.

In The Rise of Cloud Gaming, Business Insider Intelligence takes a deep dive into the evolving cloud gaming market. The report sizes the cloud gaming opportunity and examines the various drivers and barriers, identifies the most noteworthy big tech companies and telecoms poised to dominate the space, and discusses the distinct strategies they're undertaking to capture a piece of the multibillion-dollar market.

The companies mentioned in this report are: Amazon, Google, LG Uplus, Microsoft, Nintendo, Nvidia, Sony, Tencent, and Verizon.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the report:

Several significant changes in the decade-plus since cloud gaming's emergence have led the gaming format to move from a futuristic what-if to a massive opportunity for companies outside the traditional gaming space.
Cloud service providers and telecoms are investing in cloud gaming because their technological strengths are well suited to the new format and can help them corner off the immediately massive addressable market.
But nontraditional gaming companies will have to consider several factors — like identifying target audiences and building and maintaining appealing content libraries — before and after launching their cloud gaming offerings.

In full, the report:

Examines how recent technological and consumer behavioral developments are playing — and will continue to play — a significant role in helping cloud gaming reach its potential.
Explores the disruptive class of companies whose unique advantages position them to capture a large share of the burgeoning market.
Identifies several factors that may be most inhibitive to consumer adoption of cloud gaming, and how new entrants to the space can work to overcome them.

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