Wipro Infotech eyes cloud computing gaming space

Wipro Infotech, a division of Wipro Ltd, is exploring avenues to enter the cloud computing gaming space in India soon, said a top official of the company.

Wipro already has its gaming and animation unit, focusing on outsourced services in entertainment games, serious games and serious animation. Its gaming and animation centre of excellence and a testing lab are based in Hyderabad.

“The company is seriously looking at entering the cloud gaming space, especially in the area of game testing,” the Wipro manager (cloud services), told Business Standard requesting anonymity.

Cloud gaming is a type of online gaming that allows direct streaming of a game onto a computer through the use of thin client, where the actual game is stored on the gaming company’s server and is streamed directly to computers accessing the server.

Cloud gaming, as a gaming-on-demand technology, was first implemented in Finland by G-Cluster in 2005. Later, Onlive, a UK-based cloud-based gaming platform that could stream high-definition gaming onto television screens, computer or an iPad, announced its foray into the arena in June 2010.

According to a Nasscom estimate, the global gaming industry is estimated to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 10.5 per cent to reach $53.6 billion by 2012. Of this, the cloud gaming market, though at a nascent stage now, is projected to touch $400 million. According to a study, more than 55 per cent of the over 100 million mobile Internet devices to be sold worldwide in 2014 will contain embedded mobile 3G or faster connectivity on mobile handsets to make it easier for consumers to access multi-player games in the cloud.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Nasscom Animation and Gaming Conclave 2010 here today, the Wipro official said the company was seeing unprecedented demand for cloud computing and wanted to replicate the same. “I am here (Nasscom conclave) to discuss the viability of cloud computing gaming with game developers and take back valuable insights to Bangalore,” the official said.