Sony CEO: cloud gaming not always cost-efficient

Kenichiro Yoshida, CEO of Sony, states that cloud gaming can be an interesting revenue model, but that the technology also has many challenges. Yoshida refers to latency, but also to the hours in a day when there is little play, making servers less cost-efficient.

Yoshida made these statements during an interview with the British business newspaper The Financial Times. The CEO states that cloud gaming has many technical challenges, at least when it comes to games. The man refers, among other things, to latency. That would be one of the main shortcomings of technology at the moment.

Yoshida also notes during the interview that cloud gaming is not always cost-efficient. The servers that run the cloud gaming services are not actively used during the day, while they have to handle a lot of traffic in the evening. According to Yoshida, this dynamic would also play a role at Microsoft and Google.

Sony tries to use the less busy periods efficiently, according to Yoshida. The Japanese company would use artificial intelligence at those times to analyze the performance of players in games. That AI can then learn from the performance of players to become better at certain games. The article cites GT Sophy from Gran Turismo as an example. GT Sophy is an AI in Gran Turismo 7 that is trained with a neural network and can be raced against. Unlike computer-controlled drivers in racing games who are bound by rules,… the GT Sophy AI learn to drive himself and can make his own decisions and adapt to opponents.

Despite Yoshida’s comments about the technical challenges, the CEO states that Sony is willing to address the challenges associated with cloud gaming. Sony currently offers cloud gaming via PlayStation Plus Premium gaming subscription. Through this subscription formula, PSX, PS2, PSP and PS3 games can be streamed to a PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and PC.

The company acquired American cloud gaming company Gaikai for $380 million in 2012. Sony wanted to start its own cloud gaming service with the acquisition and with the deal not only acquired Gaikai’s technology, but also the servers and data centers. In 2015, Sony acquired cloud gaming service OnLive and acquired, among other things, patents from OnLive. Shortly after the acquisition, OnLive stopped offering its cloud gaming services.

Gran Turismo 7