Crytek: Is the industry ready for cloud gaming?

Speaking exclusively to GamesIndustry.biz at GDCE, Carl Jones, director of global business development for Crytek, voiced his concerns over the current enthusiasm for cloud gaming.

"It's maybe that the concept has come before we were ready for it as an industry," he said in an interview published today.

"We're just trying to throw things at it right now and I'm not sure if that's going to make people money. And whether or not the consumer needs it."

He agreed that OnLive and Gaikai were doing great things, but identified one very practical issue at the heart of the cloud gaming problem.

"You talk to anyone whose been in the online gaming business for the last five years and they'll tell you that server costs have not gone down," he argues.

You talk to anyone whose been in the online gaming business for the last five years and they'll tell you that server costs have not gone down.

Carl Jones, Crytek

"Because if you just take Crysis or Crysis 2, run it on the cloud, every extra gamer you add in needs a lot more processing power and that costs a lot of money."

He was hopeful for the future though, predicting games being distributed to multiple devices via the cloud, and designers coming up with new ways to use the service.

"I think what's going to happen now is that we're going to start seeing people designing games for the cloud, designing technology for the cloud and making the best use of it."

The full interview, which also features input from Crytek founder Avni Yerli, can be read here.