Google is reportedly set to enter the video game industry by launching its own subscription-based game streaming service.
The company could offer such a service through its Chromecast streaming stick or even a proprietary console, after having the project in the works for around two years under the codename 'Yeti', it is reported.
The fact former Playstation and Xbox executive Phil Harrison joined Google last month lends some additional credence to the idea Google will attempt to carve out a piece of the $109 billion video game market as well, The Information reported, citing sources close to the project.
Despite this appointment, vice president of product management Mario Queiroz and the vice president of engineering Majid Bakar are reportedly spearheading Yeti, not Harrison.
Yeti will reportedly operate similarly to Sony's video streaming Playstation Now service. Users will be able to stream games through cloud servers via a Google console with its own controller. Rather than requiring hard copies, users would simply have to subscribe to access the streaming games through Google's cloud servers.
It's believed that Yeti has undergone several iterations, including the possibility of working with a Chromecast, and the project is now possibly in its final stages.
This latest piece of business diversification from Google would be a bold statement following the successful launch of its Google Home voice-activated speaker and Chromecast for video streaming.
Sony's Playstation and Microsoft's Xbox currently dominate the video game industry but Google's possible entry would provide serious competition to the tech giants within the video game business.
Main image credit: Shutterstock
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei claimed AI would be writing 90% of code by this point – we're still a long way off
Veracode bolsters leadership team for next growth chapter
