EAis launching a limited trial for itsProject Atlas cloud streaming service.
EA is planning to test cross-play, but during this trial, testers can only interact with players on the regular PC versions of the games. They will also be able to sync game progress from the cloud trial to their PC versions after the trial ends.
According to aMedium postfrom Ken Moss, EA’s chief technology officer, the company wants to see how these games will perform in real-life:
“First, we want to ensure that there is strong quality of service in cloud gaming by being able to adjust to real-world, often less than ideal, conditions such as unstable bandwidth and network strength. Over the last decade, latency and jitter have made cloud gaming a non-starter for any serious gamer. But now that the global cloud infrastructure is finally reaching ubiquity, EA is working on leveraging AWS and the public cloud so that we can deploy as close to the players as possible, even in the face of unstable networks and changes in bandwidth. This player test will help us to better understand how our games perform across real-life scenarios.”
Moss also noted that EA aims to deliver full-scale HD games to any device a player wants to use, such as a smart TV, OTT streaming devices, PC or Mac laptops, tablets, and smartphones. “This means that you would be able to stream a Madden HD game directly to the smart TV in your living room, or even in a hotel room if you’re traveling. You could even also continue same session on the go, right on your smartphone,” he said.
We still don’t know when EA plans to launch its Project Atlas-based cloud gaming service for everyone, but this trial is a good sign that it’s wants to tackle Google’s Stadia and Microsoft’s xCloud head-on. Let us know in the comments if you get into the trial and what you think of EA’s service.
