How Net Neutrality Affects Gamers & Game Development?

Despite our best intentions, the FCC ruled in a 3-2 vote to dismiss Net Neutrality. Since the floodgate is now open, we can expect all kinds of changes to happen. As many experts are predicting, we may all soon live in an entirely different digital world. This applies to each one of us who use the Internet on a daily basis. Let’s take a look at how Net neutrality affects gamers.

Net Neutrality Repeal: What’s Next?

You might have asked yourself who ‘owns’ the Internet? In other words, who has the power to change things in an instant? At the moment, this answer is – Internet Service Providers. These companies have become gatekeepers over Internet connections. This means that they can control that way we use the Web by providing access or blocking certain websites.

In simple terms, the talks about Net neutrality are about money and nothing else. Apparently, the previous rules were undermining the way ISPs develop their infrastructure and present new services. However, we all know that’s not true. At the moment, ISPs have the infrastructure to close certain parts of the Web and to create fast and slow lanes to certain services (companies). This also applies to game developers and gamers as well.

How Net Neutrality Affects Gamers?

There are all kinds of ways the dismissal of Net neutrality could affect your gaming habits. After all, we can all agree that the entire gaming industry depends on the Internet. EA, one of the biggest game developers, believes that up to 70% of all game purchases will be downloaded in the coming five years. At the moment, 35% of all games are bought digitally. It is easy to see that ISPs have a lot of interest in controlling this high-revenue industry. Here are some of the possible scenarios.

Gaming Could Be a Premium Service

One of the often-mentioned scenarios include ISPs forcing us to pay extra for certain services. For example, you could pay a flat fee to access the Web on a monthly basis. However, that plan doesn’t include media streaming services or marketplaces of video games. Imagine having to pay $10 to download games from Steam without any restrictions.

The reason for this lies in the fact that AAA titles take more than 50GB of your disk space. Some of these games are Grand Theft Auto V, The Witcher 3, and Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus. So, to download and play these games, you’ll need to pay to your ISPs to download them.

Livestreaming Could Be Restricted

We have previously told about how Net Neutrality affects Netflix. The same principles apply to any other media streaming services, including livestreaming. The most obvious way to do this is to charge extra for access to services like Twitch or YouTube Gaming. Even worse, ISPs might allow you to watch livestreams but they might throttle your Internet connectivity.

There’s also another important issue. Companies like Comcast of AT&T might decide to create their own media streaming service. Therefore, these services will join the fast lane of the Internet. This kind of unfair competition isn’t too farfetched.

Game Development Will Struggle

Creating a video game is a huge investment. This applies both to large companies and independent developers. We have heard numerous stories of developers taking incredibly large loans or remortgaging their homes to publish their games. Without an open Web, this will be another financial burden for people who might be already struggling.

Large companies don’t care about the money. They can suffer a few losses without affecting their business in the long term. However, they care about communication. For example, BioWare is known for creating a communication hub for their employees at Austin and Edmonton can work seamlessly. This is why having a limited or throttled Internet connectivity could affect game development as well.

Final Thoughts

So, how Net neutrality affects gamers? There are different scenarios where none of them are good. We can only hope from ISPs not to impose rigorous limitations.

What are your thoughts on this issue? What do you think – how Net neutrality affects gamers? Speak your mind in the comments section below. Also, feel free to share this article across social networks. After all, this issue concerns each and every one of us.