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Sony must be seeing the importance of cloud-based technology, as it has been announced that the company will acquire one of the top names in cloud gaming, Gaikai, for $380 million, in the hopes that it will help it establish "a new cloud service" with which to provide users with innovative experiences.

"By combining Gaikai's resources including its technological strength and engineering talent with Sony's extensive game platform knowledge and experience, Sony will provide users with unparalleled cloud entertainment experiences," said Andrew House, President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment.

He added, "Sony will deliver a world-class cloud-streaming service that allows users to instantly enjoy a broad array of content ranging from immersive core games with rich graphics to casual content anytime, anywhere on a variety of internet-connected devices."

For those of you who know not what Gaikai is, here's a brief introduction. Founded in 2008, Gaikai is a cloud-steaming platform designed to stream quality games to various devices through the Internet quickly and effectively. Noticeably, the service allows for quick and easy access to game demos for PC games and the like.

In regards to the acquisition, Gaikai CEO David Perry said, "Sony has built an incredible brand with PlayStation and has earned the respect of countless millions of gamers worldwide. We're honored to be able to help Sony rapidly harness the power of the interactive cloud and to continue to grow their ecosystem, to empower developers with new capabilities, to dramatically improve the reach of exciting content and to bring breathtaking new experiences to users worldwide."

At the moment, Sony isn't saying what it intends to do with Gaikai's streaming technology beyond plans mentioned today to stream "content ranging from immersive core games with rich graphics to casual content anytime, anywhere on a variety of internet-connected devices." This could mean that Sony has plans to get PlayStation 3 content onto other devices, like the company's Xperia Play phone.

Other possibilities for the cloud technology include enabling users to instantly access game demos without having to give up space on hard-drives for them and (according to some rumors) the ability to stream PSOne, PS2, and PS3 games, effectively making the PlayStation 3 backwards-compatible once more.

What do you think of all this, dear readers? What do you think Sony plans to do with Gaikai?

Source: Forbes

Link 1: "RUMOR: Sony and Gaikai to bring backwards compatibility to all PS3 consoles"

Link 2: Ars Technica

Peter Grimm A writer, journalist, and aspiring storyteller, Peter Grimm has been gaming since the days of the Nintendo 64, and reporting on the goings-on in the World of Gaming since late 2011. His base of writing operations is located within the void between Here and There, or so he would have you think.

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