Square Enix's Shinra Technologies will be kicking off the beta version of its cloud gaming platform in Kansas City.
The new gaming platform will also be shown off at SXSW in Austin, Texas this coming summer.
The launch of Shinra Technologies was certainly an interesting one for gaming fans. Many were excited simply to see the name Shinra because of the popularity of Final Fantasy VII, despite the fact that the targeting of cloud gaming was a little odd. This is largely because of the questions surrounding what would differentiate Shinra Technologies from competitors.
"We built this company because we want to provide completely new game experiences that no other company can provide," said Yoichi Wada, former CEO of Square Enix who stepped down in 2013, reportedly to work on Shinra Technologies. "That's the only reason that we created Shinra Technologies."
This kind of a claim could be fulfilled in a number of ways, but one way is through its content. While many companies are beginning by bringing popular games to their streaming platforms, Shinra is aimed at creating all new content specifically for its cloud gaming offerings. Exclusivity is extremely important for the company.
Not only that, but game developers have traditionally not been able to create games that were too powerful for consumers' computers to handle. Shinra, however, is telling developers to "shoot for the stars," with developers being able to take advantage of a so-called "supercomputer." In fact, Wada himself points to other big innovations in the gaming industry.
"When Nintendo made cartridge games, it was all action games," continued Wada. "When PlayStation made CD-ROMs, it extended the loading times for games, but you have great and rich expression, almost like movies. For cloud gaming, I think there's another change that's going to happen."
Shinra showed off its technology at the Game Developers Conference last week, demonstrating how advanced games that are processed completely on Shinra's server can be.
There are, however, a number of hurdles that Shinra will need to overcome. For example, without developers, Shinra's gaming platform will not take off, but developers themselves will be taking risks in developing games for Shinra. Wada, however, suggests that this won't be a problem if Shinra properly manages its relationships.
The future of Shinra Technologies is sure to be an interesting one, but if it does end up achieving its goals, it could revolutionize the gaming industry. With the beta of the platform launching in the U.S. this summer, we should see more announcements surrounding the platform in the near future.
