San Francisco (AFP)

From Tetris to Assassin's Creed to Fortnite, video games have become more beautiful and more complex. Players are everywhere, in the subway with hobbies on the phone, in the living room via a console to network with friends, and on the computer, immersed in immersive games in high definition.

It is in this already very varied landscape that landed Stadia, the service of "cloud gaming" (remote game) of Google, which hopes to propose the best of worlds.

- Local and powerful -

The purists of the video game have their favorite console and / or a computer with a lot of memory and a powerful graphics card, necessary to ensure an optimal rendering and avoid the slowness that would ruin the fluidity of the actions on the screen.

Before starting a game, these players must first install their game. This takes more and more time, because the games have gained complexity and graphics quality, requiring at the same time always more space on the devices. Released in 1985, the first installment of Super Mario Bros "weighed" and 40 kilobytes (KB) when Death Stranding, the last star game on PlayStation 4, requires at least 55 gigabytes (GB), a multiplication by more than 1 , 3 million.

When we play in "local", all the computing power needed is in the machine, hence the regular launch of new generations of consoles or computers dedicated to video games, often sold more expensive than conventional computers.

- With (or without) his friends -

The improvement of communication networks has enabled the rise of online gambling. The development of ADSL and fiber on the one hand, 4G and soon 5G on the other, have fostered the emergence of networked multiplayer games, e-sport (video game competitions, including professional tournaments with sponsors) and mobile games, alone or with others.

The growth of bandwidth, combined with technological advances, has also contributed to the slow emergence of virtual reality headsets since the early 2010s, after a first attempt in the 90s. Today there are playrooms in virtual reality.

But to play online, you must first install the game locally, on the device, then access the servers of the game publisher. Here too, the quality of the experience depends primarily on the quality of the game. equipment used.

- In the cloud -

The "clug gaming" promises to circumvent these hardware issues: finished installation time, no need for advanced equipment, a simple screen and a joystick are enough to play, potentially on any device.

Most of the computing is done on servers. The quality of the image and the responsiveness of the game are therefore based on the power of this remote computer and the speed of the network.

Start-ups, such as Frenchman Shadow, had already started on the niche. Another, Gaikai, was bought by Sony to offer a cloud gaming service, PlayStation Now, which now has 700,000 subscribers but only gives access to a portion of the games on the console.

Microsoft is also on the run with xCloud. But it is especially Google that promises nothing less than a revolution with Stadia.

In the long term, the new platform must allow its users to enjoy their games, in optimal quality and by switching from one medium to another - computer, smart TV, smartphone.

Players could then focus their spending on games (and a very good wifi).

- Live -

The video game also looks like a football game. On live streaming platforms, such as Twitch (Amazon) or Mixer (Microsoft), amateur or professional players broadcast live games. Their fans comment on the action in cats.

These platforms need huge bandwidth capabilities to ensure the real-time delivery of these videos to tens of millions of people, especially in case of big e-sports competition.

In early 2019, the streaming platform for Netflix series and movies had cited Twitch and gambling games as Fortnite among its main competitors in the race for consumer attention, especially the youngest.

© 2019 AFP