ea streaming interview

EA Thinks Smart TVs Are Critical to the Future of Game Streaming

The way EA sees it, the all-digital future is not a matter of if, but when. In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Executive Vice President of Strategic Growth Matt Bilbey discussed the publisher’s outlook on the state of traditional consoles. As a reminder, the second-largest publisher already laid out plans for a streaming service at its E3 2018 conference.

“I don’t think it’s a case of ‘Will it or won’t it?’ It will happen. It’s just [a question of] when,” Bilbey stated. According to him, the streaming future is based around smart TVs. “If we’re able to put an application on that smart TV…then we’re actually able to use the understanding of how those people are playing games…” he noted. In theory, streaming applications could replace traditional consoles. However, Bilbey also said that he doesn’t see the video game console going away. They just may not appear as we see them today.

“The console makers are smart groups. I think they’ll find new roles that consoles can play in people’s lives.” He noted that there could be multiple spaces where a console in this new age could fit, whether it be built-in to a television or on a mobile device. Bilbey did note many potential issues when it comes to video game streaming, chiefly bandwidth. But according to him, this is an issue that could be resolved in the next couple of years.

Video game streaming services have been gaining prominence in the last few years. Such options were an especially hot topic at E3 2018. Despite the impending closure of GameFly’s streaming service, many companies are looking to streaming. Microsoft reaffirmed their commitment to it at E3 2018 and PlayStation Now currently has over 600 games to stream.

You don’t need to worry about the death of traditional consoles just yet. The PlayStation 5 is rumored to release in 2020. As an added bonus, the fabled console may even feature backwards compatibility with PlayStation 4 games.

What do you think about this EA’s thoughts on streaming? Could smart TV applications be a big help? Or do you prefer your games in a more tangible form? Let us know!

[Source: GamesIndustry.biz]

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