Orange has acquired a minority stake in Japanese firm G-cluster, which could result in cloud gaming being delivered to all its customers worldwide.
The telco has already collaborated with G-cluster in France to provide cloud gaming services to the near three million Orange TV customers in the country.
Orange has claimed the partnership will provide support for G-cluster’s international development, which in turn could lead to cloud gaming being rolled out to all customers.
This, the company says, will be facilitated through its Europe-wide high-speed broadband, fibre and 4G network.
Furthermore, Orange expects to benefit from the development of a best-in-class games catalogue, the accelerated launch of commercial services across the continent, and to use G-cluster’s knowledge to optimise traffic generated by cloud gaming on its network.
Élie Girard, executive vice president of Group Strategy and Development, said: “Cloud-gaming is strategic for Orange, as it is a fast-growing activity for which access to very high-speed broadband networks has become essential.
“For Orange, the ability to create value through these networks by offering our customers high quality services is a crucial part of our strategy both in France and across our international footprint.”
Orange joins Sony in making a cloud gaming announcement this week. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Andrew House, head of the company’s PlayStation division, set out plans for a new cloud gaming service called PlayStation Now, which is due to launch this summer, as well as a longer-term plan to debut a TV streaming service.
