The way games are distributed is changing, and Sony's acquisition of Gaikai is evidence of that. It's come to be excepted, but Gaikai's David Perry has expressed his interest in bringing the service to the PlayStation 4, also discussing how it will effect the PlayStation division.
Perry expects Gaikai will be incorporated into the PS4, however he doesn't want to put words in Sony's mouth. In bringing the service to consoles, Gaikai has experimented internally and can confirm that "it definitely works."
While the fruits of Sony's latest acquisition have yet to be realized, Perry is excited to be working on the PS4 - which has possibly been in development since 2010. His hope is to not only create something revolutionary, but to also emphasize the gaming components of the PS4. Perry is realistic, and realizes that Sony may not listen to everything he says, but he's in a good position where he's able to have his voice heard.
"I'm certainly going to remind them what I feel about PlayStation. What I feel about PlayStation is, when I'm thinking of buying a game - I don't know how they've done it but the branding has somehow got me there - if I'm trying to find where the best version is, I just automatically go, well that would be the PlayStation version, right? I don't know, the branding worked on me."
Prior to Sony's purchase of Gaikai, there was speculation that the service would be able to bring backwards compatibility back to the PS3. As many gamers are probably aware, current PS3 models do not play PS2 games, a feature that many PlayStation fans have requested be brought back.
However, emulation via software can be fickle. Perry was unable to discuss the possibility of using Gaikai for backwards compatibility, but he is excited about the accessibility it will bring to gamers:
"I've been saying for quite some time now, how people plan their days around moving data around, like, I'm going to start five games downloading and I'll come back tomorrow. It's a really big boon for gamers because they'll be able to play pretty much everything that comes out with no effort."
Cloud gaming is so attractive because it allows games to be played on a multitude of devices, no matter the hardware capabilities. The way Gaikai's service could will affect video game distribution in the next generation is what makes Sony's acquisition of Gaikai so intriguing to gamers.
Free-to-play and digital distribution has been on the rise over the past few years, and subscription services like Gaikai will help to better make digital distribution a model to complement retail. What we want to see is Gaikai running on the Vita; being able to play PS3 and PS4 titles on the go may sound like a pipe dream now, but if Sony nurtures their latest subsidiary, it could become a reality in just a few short years.
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Source: Eurogamer