Cloud Strife: Expanding the Horizons of Cloud Gaming Services

Abstract

Abstract-Cloud gaming where computer games are executed on cloud based resources is a new service which can be extremely challenging for service providers. Unlike other web and video streaming applications it requires both a relatively high constant downlink bandwidth and low latency simultaneously. Hence, cloud gaming providers recommend that clients be relatively close to data centers to ensure reasonable Quality of Service. Latency, however, is also dependent on the compression type used for the video streaming and there is a trade-off between compression efficiency and complexity which affects client computer capability. In this paper we propose the Strife system which examines the processing capabilities of the client as well as the network conditions between the client and data center to select the compression type that maximizes the size of the client base for cloud gaming services for which reasonable Quality of Service can be provided. We model a cloud gaming service using data which reflects gaming hardware in common use, the bandwidth available in the regions and optimize the number of users that can receive reasonable Quality of Service. Finally, we compare other schemes with the Strife system to evaluate its performance.

An Overview of the Networking Issues of Cloud Gaming

“…Overall, 23 pieces of literature were selected to identify issues and challenges related to networking that currently affect cloud gaming. The identified issues and challenges are quality of service (QoS) and quality of experience (QoE) [17]- [21], latency [20], [22]- [30], bandwidth [20], [24], [26], [27], [31]- [33], delay [17], [23], [27], [31], [34]- [39], packet loss [17], [19], [22], [30], the cost of providing the service [31]- [33], complexity (video encoding, compression, and game content) [20], [34], [36], [38], and graphics quality [23], [34]- [36]. Figure 2 presents these issues and challenges along with the number of corresponding literature mainly cited to discuss them.…”

“…There are various network QoS factors that, if degraded, may negatively impact the user's QoE or experience when using cloud gaming [17]- [19]. For QoS, cloud gaming providers should be able to provide high constant bandwidth and low latency [20]. Such a problem is applicable to various types of games.…”

“…Therefore, low latency or at least an acceptable level of latency is needed to ensure that the service is usable [24]- [27]. If a game has high latency, it may feel unresponsive [20]. In general, Sužnjević and Homen [22] stated that cloud gaming systems would require a Round Trip Time (RTT) network latency of less than 70ms.…”

“…A major challenge for cloud gaming is its possible need for high network bandwidth [20], [24], [31]- [33]. If the bandwidth is inadequate and network congestion happens, frames could disappear or become delayed, which would make playback choppy [20].…”

“…A major challenge for cloud gaming is its possible need for high network bandwidth [20], [24], [31]- [33]. If the bandwidth is inadequate and network congestion happens, frames could disappear or become delayed, which would make playback choppy [20]. Moreover, if there is a high number of users, the cloud server may not have the ability to supply sufficient downstream bandwidth [31].…”