Walmart's Plan For Cloud Gaming Revolved Around An Open Ecosystem - Android

Walmart isn’t the first name you’d think of for a company looking to get into cloud gaming. In fact it might be the last company you expect to enter the space. A new report though shows that the retailer had plans to launch its own cloud gaming service, codenamed Project Storm. According to The Verge, [...]

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The post Walmart's Plan For Cloud Gaming Revolved Around An Open Ecosystem appeared first on Android Headlines.

Walmart isn’t the first name you’d think of for a company looking to get into cloud gaming. In fact it might be the last company you expect to enter the space. A new report though shows that the retailer had plans to launch its own cloud gaming service, codenamed Project Storm.

According to The Verge, Walmart even pitched plans about the service to Epic Games back in 2019. It also had a demo lined up to show to publishers during its pitches which, was playable on an Android phone. Epic’s Mark Rein said it was like he was “playing on a PS4” and not on Android.

Walmart hasn’t yet announced the service to the public. Nor has it indicated that it’s still working on the service.

The Walmart cloud gaming service was slated for a June 2019 beta

If Walmart still has plans to launch, it’s not letting on. The retailer planned to launch a beta for the service back in June of 2019. It’s coming up to two years since that point though. With no beta having been released.

Documentation that describes the service shows what the client or launcher could have looked like on PC. These are just mockups of course, but it sort of displays how dedicated Walmart seemed to be to making this a viable offering for users.

The service was supposed to be subscription-based but it would also allow users to bring their own games. Access would also incorporate sales of games through third-party clients.

The service was planned as an open ecosystem

Cloud gaming seems to be a growing space these days. With the likes of Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Shadow, and NVIDIA all offering consumers an option. And those are just the big names that get all the attention. Everyone also seems to offer a slightly different model, but they’re all for the most part fairly closed off.

Walmart wanted its service to be more open. Where players could subscribe for access to games, bring their own games, and buy games through clients like Battle.net, The Epic Games Store, Steam, Uplay, Origin and more.

Players would be able to stream the games over the cloud for convenience. But they could also be downloaded and played locally on their PC. The retailer also planned to sell a game clip for smartphones that was compatible with the Xbox controller. For all intents and purposes, Walmart’s push into cloud gaming could have been a rather interesting one. And it still could be if the company has plans to launch it.

The post Walmart's Plan For Cloud Gaming Revolved Around An Open Ecosystem appeared first on Android Headlines.