Ken Moss, Chief Technology Officer of Electronic Arts, expounded on the publisher’s thoughts on cloud gaming and the new acquisition:
According to EA’s press release, the acquisition was completed this May. No financial details regarding the acquisition have yet to be made available.
While EA may now own GameFly’s video game streaming technology and development team, it does not own the service’s existing streaming service. As such, GameFly will continue to provide its video game streaming service to subscribers for the foreseeable future. GameFly has a robust library of titles that subscribers can rent and stream at will, with features including cloud game saves, couch multiplayer, free game trials, and unlimited access.
Electronic Arts could, theoretically, implement a similar cloud gaming feature-set into its Origin PC storefront or even through the EA Access subscription on console. Such a project likely won’t be done overnight, of course. And there’s no promise that Electronic Arts would even consider such a project necessary. The publisher may be thinking about some other application entirely, such as joining a growing wave of games for the Nintendo Switch which are streamed via the cloud.
All things considered, Electronic Arts’ purchase of GameFly’s cloud gaming subsidiary comes as somewhat of a surprise. While cloud gaming has never necessarily fallen out of the public purview, the technology has in recent years fallen on the backburner as the realities of modern technology’s limitations became apparent. Broadband just isn’t being upgraded fast enough, and ISPs are making it all the tougher with new bandwidth caps and increased pricing.
Nonetheless, whatever Electronic Arts’ goals may be, the company is moving forward with cloud gaming. Who knows, maybe today’s acquisition could prove a portentous event in several years.
