Google reportedly working on game streaming platform to rival Xbox, PlayStation

Reports claim that Google is working on a subscription-based streaming service to rival services like PlayStation Now and Xbox Game Pass. According to the reports, Google plans on streaming this service through Google’s Chromecast or through a Google gaming console.

This comes after a former longtime Sony executive and Microsoft Xbox executive, Phil Harrison, was hired by Google to work in the hardware division of the company.

The Information is reporting that Google has made an ‘early version’ of their streaming service, codenamed Yeti, and that it is currently designed to work over a Chromecast. In addition to this, Google has begun experimenting with a Google-developed game console and controller. Details claim that the project is being overseen by two Google hardware executives, Mario Queiroz, VP of product management, and Majd Bakar, VP of engineering.

The project is said to have been in development for two years and was even considered for a Holiday 2017 release. The product didn’t launch, as we would be aware of it by now, and the reason behind its lack of release was not revealed.

Currently, it’s not known how Google Chromecast will link with a controller.

This rumor is not so different from a rumor we saw in 2016. The rumor stated that Xbox was working on a number of devices, including a small streaming only game console and a bigger streaming only device that could support more than the smaller one.

An all-digital gaming future has been the subject of on and off conversation for the last few years. It seems like moving to all-digital is bound to happen as digital sales begin to outgrow physical sales.