7 Reasons Cloud Gaming Still Sucks

howtogeek.com:

Everyone seems to be offering some form of cloud gaming solution these days, despite the high-profile failure of Google Stadia. There are even dedicated cloud streaming handheld devices that aren't cheap! But cloud gaming kind of sucks, and here's why.

1 Peak Demand Will Always Be a Problem

Cloud streaming on a central server is a convenient service that allows everyone access, but there's only so much infrastructure to go around. Expect to spend a significant mount of time waiting for your turn to access cloud gaming hardware in the server room at peak times of day.

This is especially true when a hot new game drops. Ironically, the more successful cloud gaming becomes, the more likely service degradation will be.

2 Networks Will Never Be 100% Consistent

No matter how smart the engineers behind cloud gaming platforms are, they simply have no control over what happens to those data packets between your device and theirs. The physical networks that make up the internet are unimaginably complex, and when you're using a service that requires precision and responsiveness measured in milliseconds, you're bound to run into issues. When a sailor on the other side of the world accidentally drags an anchor through an undersea cable, your game is going down with the ship.

3 It’s the Ultimate DRM

Game publishers and developers are always worried about piracy, and that's a fair concern. However, DRM (Digital Rights Management) technology often makes things worse for legitimate paying customers, so it's rarely popular. It's especially limiting when physical or digital download games require an online DRM check to work. Cloud gaming takes that even further. It's the ultimate DRM, since the game never actually leaves the remote hardware on which you're playing. This means you have no say as to when you lose access to the game, or when you get to play it. No preservation, and (probably) no modding.

4 You Don't Get To Pick Your Hardware

There's no guarantee that you'll get the