{"id":341077,"date":"2017-05-16T22:57:07","date_gmt":"2017-05-16T14:57:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/techcrunch.com\/?p=1491139"},"modified":"2017-05-16T22:57:07","modified_gmt":"2017-05-16T14:57:07","slug":"playkey-is-reviving-the-cloud-gaming-market-by-allowing-you-to-buy-or-bring-your-own-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/playkey-is-reviving-the-cloud-gaming-market-by-allowing-you-to-buy-or-bring-your-own-games\/","title":{"rendered":"PlayKey is reviving the cloud gaming market by allowing you to buy or bring your own games"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

What if you\u2019ve wanted to join the PC gaming community, but don\u2019t have the means to purchase a PC that costs thousands of dollars? PlayKey has a unique approach to virtualization\/cloud gaming<\/a>\u00a0with payment tiers that determine stream\u00a0quality, the ability to play games by either purchasing them\u00a0from PlayKey, or making use of your own Steam game library.\"\"<\/p>\n

PlayKey\u2019s business is based around its servers located in Amsterdam, London and Frankfurt, while being\u00a0headquartered in Russia. During Tuesday\u2019s Startup Alley<\/a>, I spoke with Vadim Andreev, PlayKey\u2019s VP of gaming strategy, about the specs and the requirements of using the service at its best settings: \u201cUsers can use their own Steam library with our service, buy the game from Steam directly, or purchase the key and subscription from us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additionally, Playkey isn\u2019t stepping on the toes of publishers or Valve, as they\u2019re technically working as a collaborating\u00a0partner for purchasing game keys, while also running a virtualization service to help those games.<\/p>\n

With this two-lane approach, I think there\u2019s potential here for enabling a gamer who wants to play PC games, but can\u2019t afford a gaming PC. After all, if you do stop using the service, you still technically<\/em> own and have the rights to play the game \u2014 but\u00a0then you\u2019ll\u00a0need a gaming PC.<\/p>\n

One of the key differences between PlayKey and failed cloud gaming competitors of the past, is their optimized server runtime (thus lowering operating costs). PlayKey can run different 20 game sessions (or users), simultaneously on the same server with multiplayer support. Monitoring tools are also available, allowing you to see\u00a0packets lost, game FPS, resolution and more.<\/p>\n

PlayKey supports 150 games, including a ton of AAA titles like, Grand Theft Auto: V<\/em>, The Witcher 3<\/em>, Mafia III<\/em>, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided,<\/em> Bioshock: Infinite<\/em>, and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim<\/em>, with more added every month. Their catalogue also includes a few non-Steam games, like Overwatch<\/em>, Elder Scrolls: Online<\/em>\u00a0and EVE: Online<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In order for PlayKey to work, you\u2019ll\u00a0needs a minimum download internet speed of 10MBps, required for PlayKey to stream at 720p resolution, under a $10 monthly subscription. However, if you opt for the $20 monthly plan, you can stream games at 1080p HD resolution, at ultra settings, with the\u00a0minimum requirement of a 20Mbps internet connection.<\/p>\n

So, just how would you be able to start streaming?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

You start off by signing-up, paying $20 for the HD subscription (for example), then purchase your game key from Steam or Playkey directly (or just logging in with your own Steam ID and library). A virtualized window will appear on-screen, where PlayKey initializes the launcher and the game begins to run in fullscreen. Also, if\u00a0you\u2019re worried about\u00a0game saves: cloud sync is supported and still tied to your Steam account, including social and screenshot features.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re not ready to take the cloud gaming plunge, you can also demo PlayKey for 30 minutes, so I\u2019d say give it a shot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"\" What if you’ve wanted to join the PC gaming community, but don’t have the means to purchase a PC that costs thousands of dollars? PlayKey has a unique approach to virtualization\/cloud gaming\u00a0with payment tiers that determine stream\u00a0quality, the ability to play games by either purchasing them\u00a0from PlayKey, or making use of your own Steam game library. PlayKey’s business… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n

\n<\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"\/ <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5817,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[59,66,26],"class_list":["post-341077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology","tag-media","tag-techcrunch","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5817"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=341077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341077\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=341077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=341077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}