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Mysterious New Cloud Gaming Service Appears: Gaikai

by Adam Cook on July 4, 2011

Let’s face it, the eventual future of gaming is heading to the cloud, right? OnLive certainly think so, as they are already succesful in the USA and coming to the UK later this year.

However, just recently there seems to be a new name in the cloud gaming universe, called Gaikai.

But what exactly is it?

The official Gaikai website claims that:

Gaikai is an open cloud gaming platform that lets gamers play the latest games (like Mass Effect 2 and Sims 3) instantly on any internet-connected device. No game downloads or installers. Just click and play.

Gaikai accelerates digital revenue growth with a cloud-based distribution platform that powers the entire lifecycle of your direct-to-consumer business, from discovery to delivery.

Gaikai’s gaming cloud is the world’s only open high-performance interactive entertainment network for gamers, publishers, retailers, and affiliates. We’ve established 24 data centers in 12 countries, and we’re adding more all the time. We give publishers, retailers and affiliates more qualified customers, faster. And we deliver awesome game experiences through a stream, or via our patent-pending perceptive downloader technology.

Gamers: Click and play instantly
Publishers & Developers: Watch your game market itself
Affiliates: Effortlessly add a new source of revenue

Gaikai is all about enabling your gaming strategy, whatever it may be.

Aside from that, they also have a FAQ section on the site that goes into more detail, including the reveal that Gaikai is a Japanese term that means “Open Ocean”. They also explain that there is no client for Gaikai, and that it is “live now”, and there is also this nugget, in relation to Consoles: “We can stream any type of game to any type of device that can accept a video stream. Our servers are currently geared for PC games but we can handle any type of content.”