Streaming has been touted as the way of the future by a number of video game industry giants. Ubisoft's CEO Yves Guillemot believes this technology will become the primary way people play games in the future. Meanwhile, EA is investing heavily in cloud-based technology with the news it has more than 1,000 staff and dozens of studios working on a new platform.

Nintendo is taking a more cautious approach when it comes to this new-found technology. During an interview with Kotaku, Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime said the recent streaming efforts in Japan with titles such as the cloud version of Assassin's Creed Odyssey was an exciting development for the industry, but the technical infrastructure for it to happen outside of this region simply did not exist in other countries, including the United States.

It’s specific to Japan because of the internet infrastructure that exists in that country. Very high-speed wireless capability. The ability to have a great experience in Japan is profound. The technical infrastructure doesn’t exist for that to happen currently here in the United States.

When challenged about how other companies within America were already providing video game streaming services, Reggie clarified the current technology did not meet Nintendo's requirements. He made reference to Google's Project Stream (responsible for streaming Assassin's Creed Odyssey through players' Chrome web browsers) and said how this method of play was not suitable for serious players:

If you talk to really active gamers there’s a level of dissatisfaction, because of a lag and other things that happen currently. The question is: At what point will there be the technical infrastructure for that to be a truly compelling experience.



Do you think Reggie makes a valid point? Do regions outside of Japan need better technical infrastructure before game streaming is properly embraced? What do you think about streaming games? Tell us below.