On the cusp of a new console generation and in the midst of an even more seismic battle amongst two titans in technology, a glimmer of hope shines in yet a still far-off distance. Cloud gaming, or in layman's terms "the Netflix of video games," is no doubt going to play an important role in the future of this industry.

The question is not when or even how – it's why. What exactly makes cloud gaming such an appealing notion in the near future and will it be more viable than current systems? If things continue to develop, a larger diversity of entry points for gaming will bloom. Cloud gaming will eventually allow for more open-platform ecosystems, and thus, beckon the dawn of a console-less gaming industry.

Cutting The Cord AND The Box

Via Microsoft

RELATED: Tencent Wants In On The Cloud Gaming Craze, Too

Released on November 19th, Stadia opened wide the availability and fluidity of cloud gaming, yet not without some severe drawbacks and let downs. No, it's not the most powerful cloud gaming service, nor can it's library readily compete with the likes of Sony's or Microsoft's. Still, Stadia laid the groundwork for what can potentially be the future, and with its wrangling of approximately one million users in nearly six months, there's clear promise in the system.

Others are jumping on the bandwagon or long have been structuring similar services, evidenced by Microsoft's foothold in the cloud gaming space with Project xCloud. Additionally, Tencent has shown interest in cloud gaming's potential and even Facebook made moves by acquiring PlayGiga for $70 million. To say there isn't promise in cloud gaming would be naïve given the millions of dollars companies are spending – but for those still unsure, there's always statistics to help paint the picture.

Numbers Tell All

via Technavio

A market research report conducted by Technavio proves that cloud gaming is on the rise and only will continue to push bounds going well beyond 2021. Per the report (via BusinessWire), key drivers of the game streaming market are "the organization of gaming tournaments and eSports events," coupled with "the rising adoption of secure cloud services and advanced technologies such as 5G and artificial intelligence in gaming."

Yet another report performed by the likes of Statista via Nimdzi shows how cloud gaming will impact localization, specifically detailing from 2017 to 2023 the potential net market valuations worldwide for cloud gaming. Though somewhat dated, their findings conclude with a $450 million potential by 2023 for cloud gaming, which in my opinion sounds a bit undervalued. They likewise add three ways in which video game streaming will push industry bounds: "1. More content becoming available and produced faster too; 2. Streaming and social media; 3. New gamer profiles."

Even EA thinks cloud gaming will bring in a billion people, so it isn't so much a "what if" as it is a "when and where" perplexity.

A Nimbus-Ride Toward The Future

via Nvidia

A veritable swath of scholarly articles have been penned about cloud gaming, but some of the very best words on the matter ironically come from Reddit, wherein user EricLowry revealed his thoughts on the "rise of cloud gaming." He lists three main considerations for the illegitimacy of console buying in the future as being 1. convenience, 2. "No need for dedicated hardware," and 3. "Cloud-specific features." In all, these combined make for a gaming experience that does away with storage space, the need for an update upon loading into a game, money spent on the console, actual in-home real estate for said device, and more.

Lowry isn't the only Reddit user to put forth their thoughts on cloud gaming, as u/aroundme added to the pot the woes of data caps and how streaming games via WiFi could improve upon these issues tremendously. The Redditor mentioned Shadow of War on Game Pass as a reference, noting that the game's 90GB of required storage space would amount to "nearly 10% of my monthly data." Thus, downloads and update patches are the real concern in a data-capped world, which game streaming could very well rescind.

The only impediment thus far noticeable is, of course, Apple. Its recent confirmation that cloud gaming services violate App Store guidelines in effect pushes back against the aforementioned open-platform ecosystems, disallowing services such as xCloud and Stadia from perfecting themselves on iOS and beyond. Their coincided functionality on all such devices would allow cloud gaming a push in the right direction, but until such platforms can learn to work together, it will be an all-out bloodbath to the top of the tech industry.

In due time, these concepts will reshape the gaming sphere, inevitably leading to a swift and unceremonious death to major physical platforms and forever ceding the console wars.

NEXT: Steam Cloud Play Is Valve's Answer To Game Streaming, Will Support GeForce Now