Streaming game services are not new, however, successful streaming game services are. In particular, several issues have limited streaming game services - bandwidth, latency, and content availability. With the slow steady improvement of broadband and the availability of 5G in the future the first two issues are slowly being resolved. Content, however, has remained an issue as streaming game services have been relegated to back catalogs. That is starting to change.

While back catalogs are need to flesh out a streaming game services library it is new releases that gamers want most of all and are what are necessary to make streaming game services successful. Microsoft and Electronic Arts (EA) are taking the plunge and adding new releases to their respective streaming services.

EA is adding a new subscription tier, Access Premier, to Origin on PC. Subscribers to this new tier will be able to play new releases such as “Madden 19,” “FIFA 19,” “Battlefield V,” and “Anthem before anyone else. Access Premier will cost $14.99 per month or $99.99 per year and be available later this year.

While streaming game services are not going to replace consoles any time soon, Microsoft confirmed that they are working on a next generation console, their end is coming into focus. According to Yves Guillemot, co-founder and CEO of Ubisoft, “we will see another generation [of video game consoles] but there is a good chance that step-by-step we will see less and less hardware. With time streaming will become more accessible to many players and make it not necessary to have big hardware at home.”