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Dyack predicts 'end of the golden era of video games'

GDC Europe 2009: Silicon Knights' founder believes that cloud computing will "profoundly affect the games industry forever."

COLOGNE, Germany--Such services as OnLive and Gaikai have had their share of headlines recently. They promise to almost totally remove the need for local computer hardware, with video and audio processing happening on a computer in a remote location. Part of the greater IT trend known as cloud computing, it is a system that's not without its doubters thanks to concerns about latency, financial viability, and other concerns. However, Silicon Knights founder Denis Dyack is a huge believer in the concept and claims that in 20 years time, cloud computing will be dominant.

I wandered lonely as as... how does that go again?

Controversially, Dyack completely dismissed the problem of lag--claiming that they're not even real issues at all. "If I were one of these companies, I'd be looking at putting hardware into every major city, which would completely eradicate any lag problems," he said. He believes in the concept so much, in fact, that he even went on to say, "2009 may be the end of the golden era of video games as the first cloud models for games are announced."

Cloud computing tends to be popular among developers, in part because it eliminates the traditional issues of piracy and second-hand game sales--two complaints that frequently come up among discussions on the state of PC gaming at GDC and other similar industry events. "When you stop a manufacturing run and you see more and more games picked up, you know you're not getting royalties--it's very frustrating," Dyack said. “Obviously, cloud computing eradicates these problems.”

For those concerned that Silicon Knights may be about to give up on traditional consoles though, fear not. "Silicon Knights will continue to do console games as long as they're profitable," he said. He also continued to refer to Too Human as a trilogy, suggesting that work is still underway on a sequel to the original game, which received lukewarm critical and commercial reception. "We may also do a remake of Cyber Empires," Dyack said, referring to an update of the first game the studio ever put out.

232 Comments

  • Yoshi

    Posted Oct 15, 2009 3:40 pm PT

    Does anyone talk about how this will effect modding? I guess the only way for it to work would be fore the cloud company to add the mod to thier list - which means you would only get "dev" approved mods.

    Also, I like owning a game - a concept that may be on its way out. With a subscription plan - if I stop paying then I can not longer play anything. Not a great future in my opinion.

    Anyone else think gamers will be the getting the very short end of the stick on this one? Who wins with this? Publishers, the cloud company and people who won't pony up for a good system but want to play brand new games with all the options turned up. The rest of us lose.

  • osiris

    Posted Aug 29, 2009 9:49 pm PT

    lag or no lag. The way PC gaming is going, it'll take until patch 1.6 to get cloud computing to work half decently...

  • system3142

    Posted Aug 29, 2009 5:05 pm PT

    Let me guess. So 20 years from now, when cloud computing is the new sex, you won't HAVE to pay $99 for a PS2, $299 or $399 for 360's, $whatever for WoW subscriptions or invest heavily in $1200 PCs?
    What? You'll have to instead pay $30 a month for the low end package, $60 a month for the deluxe multi-player package or $99.99 a month for the uber-sexed up will-jack-you-off-as-you-play-Master-Chief-edition with the higher than high latency buff up?
    Oh, then there's the downloadable content, the movies, the trailers, the videos and the exclusives?

    Cha-ching. $2000 per year. Try making that one fly.

  • Indiscrimi

    Posted Aug 24, 2009 9:51 pm PT

    I guess he means that, in the future, game companies will have gamers by the...you know. No more videogame piracy, no more second hand games; we'll have to do things their way.

    That sounds like the end of a golden age to me.

  • rikhan_z

    Posted Aug 24, 2009 7:25 am PT

    I was expecting something like the golden era of video games to end... however to be replaced by remote video games and the end of consoles... hmmm isn't the article title a bit misleading? I thought they mean Consoles and Video Games on the whole would be wiped out.

    Cloud computing?

  • OXM-Madman

    Posted Aug 21, 2009 5:43 pm PT

    @ Flavour666

    "Honestly people, we can barely stream 720p video in acceptable quality with several seconds of pre-load time, and now all of a sudden we will be able to play games with 60fps, no input lag at super-picture quality using the SAME infrastructure?

    Whoever believes in that crap is seriously mentally challenged."

    Yes, we are suddenly able to play games at 60fps without lag. Because we AREN'T using the same infrastructure.

    The difference is that super powerful, $10k + PCs are running and rendering the games FOR YOU, and just streaming it as a high-quality live video. Note they keyword LIVE: They load and run MUCH faster than any video hosting website.

    Here's an example: Have you ever noticed that with YouTube vids when you don't have the best connection you have to wait for it to load, yet with webcams they stream instantly? Same thing.

  • cloud_kai

    Posted Aug 19, 2009 7:25 pm PT

    TooHuman Sucked.

  • TH3_WR417H

    Posted Aug 19, 2009 6:16 pm PT

    The only way the can make TooHuman 2 is if the revamp everything in it and let you keep your characters. but that contole system has to be reworked.

  • dukerav

    Posted Aug 19, 2009 10:18 am PT

    Maybe I am old fashioned here, but, I would rather have a console and or computer to game on that I can turn on or off when I choose.

  • GabeBlack

    Posted Aug 19, 2009 9:18 am PT

    They are still working on a sequel to that horrible game? Dude. It was so bad I don't even think anyone wanted to pirate it

  • mr_emmezzy

    Posted Aug 19, 2009 6:47 am PT

    I for one would love OnLive to work as advertised, but how can they guarantee lag will not happen, or is not a problem when reliability of your ISP determines lag issues?

  • Ripper_TV

    Posted Aug 19, 2009 12:45 am PT

    " What do NVIDIA and ATI do after all the super computers are built? "
    The thing is - that moment is faaar in the future.

  • fatpumba3

    Posted Aug 19, 2009 12:41 am PT

    What the hell is "cloud computing"?

    Can someone please tell me?

  • X-RS

    Posted Aug 18, 2009 10:27 pm PT

    Jinzo, i couldnt agree more.

  • jinzo9988

    Posted Aug 18, 2009 10:16 pm PT

    Too Human was decent but it got old after an hour. I can't imagine playing the whole trilogy if they continue like they did with the first game.

    As for cloud computing, I can't really say a lot because I don't know a lot about it. Steam is doing pretty well against pirates, or at least for Valve games it is because every single time you play a Valve game through Steam it authenticates your copy of the game... no need for cloud computing there. Other developers on Steam can opt for a less-strict authentication policy with Steam.

    I don't think cloud computing will take off. It's too risky and it's too much of a gamble with the way the economy works. What do NVIDIA and ATI do after all the super computers are built? What will all of the gaming hardware manufacturers do after they're all built? What do sites like Newegg do when people no longer have a need to buy hardware? It saves the consumer money but when has it ever been about the consumer's wallets with an industry as big as or maybe even bigger than Hollywood?

    What happens when someone finds a way to hack into these super computers? What happens if they corrupt the files in such a way that every computer who connects to them gets viruses from them? Where there's a will, there's a way, and as far as I'm concerned it's one big invitation for hackers to try and buck the system and can/will wreak all kinds of havoc if/when they do.

  • OrionNM

    Posted Aug 18, 2009 9:29 pm PT

    In the future, lag won't be an issue. That's very true, I seldom have lag with just a standard DSL connection. Imagine what the future will hold for our connections.

    I, for one, love Too Human and am very excited to hear that there is hope for the trilogy to still be released.

  • IXIWhistIXI

    Posted Aug 18, 2009 8:19 pm PT

    Remora you aren't reading this right or you didn't read it.

    He's not saying video games are on a decline, but video games on a console you OWN personally may be done with within 2009.

    Cloud computing is actually a very fascinating topic, it's basically wirelessly connecting to a super computer to play games (or I suppose you could write a report or something else).

    The big concern I have is hackers. Now they wouldn't just be getting into your computer, they would be getting into an entire cities worth of computers.

  • Sins-of-Mosin

    Posted Aug 18, 2009 5:10 pm PT

    Shoot, its easy to predict so far in the future. Obviously anything is possible but then you run into cable and phone companies who won't upgrade old lines nor make it cheap for services, I don't see this working out well. Shoot, I still waiting for a base on the Moon and hover cars.

  • Remora133

    Posted Aug 18, 2009 4:16 pm PT

    the "golden age" may end, but games will never slow down. im only 21, and i wont stop gaming until im dead

  • GSgirl

    Posted Aug 18, 2009 3:18 pm PT

    Yeah right! what ever you say Denis Dyack (who cares)