Alibaba is doing some interesting things in the cloud gaming space. Alibaba is the largest cloud infrastructure provider in China.

Cloud Gaming is being explored by a number of tech companies in China including game publishers, game streaming platforms and others.

Quick thread:

- Main aim is to increase access to games by removing the need to purchase specialised high end hardware for games.
- Frictionless experience when playing games.
- Grow overall player audience.
- Introduce new ways to play.
- Potential for unique / larger games through cloud.

First solution is to offer PaaS cloud gaming service with edge computing locations to ensure wide coverage, stability and low network latency.

Primarily to enable traditional cloud gaming for AAA console games on PC / TV devices with multiplayer support.

The potential for future cloud gaming growth lies in mobile and 5G. China's fast roll out of 5G will enable further cloud gaming growth prior to other markets.

Aim to go beyond 'playing AAA games on phone via cloud' and transform smartphones into gaming entertainment devices.

Exploration of cloud native games that can run on any device, link to multiple other devices, support local and remote multiplayer and other functions.

Example here being able to play a cloud game on your smartphone, linked to your TV, with your smartphone as the controller.

Another example is cloud game demos built into various mobile apps (e.g. TikTok) that can be played instantly.

Content creators can even play these games and viewers can jump into the game to compete with them.

Example here uses head movement to control the game.

Alibaba is looking to build out these tools so that developers can start experimenting with cloud native games. Increasing accessibility to games, reducing friction, driving additional engagement.

Anyway, here is Sekiro running on a smart watch.