The effects of latency on player performance in cloud-based games

Cloud-based games are an increasingly popular method to distribute and play computer games on the Internet. While there has been some work studying network aspects of cloud-based games and examining the effects of latency on traditional games, there has not been sufficient research on the impact of latency on cloud-based games nor a comparison of the impact of latency on cloud-based games versus traditional games. This paper presents the results of two user studies that measure the objective and subjective effects of latency on cloud-based games, one study using the commercial cloud game system OnLive and the other study using the academic cloud game system GamingAnywhere. Analysis of the results shows both quality of experience and user performance degrade linearly with an increase in latency. More significantly, latency affects cloud-based games in a manner most similar to that of traditional first-person avatar games, the most sensitive class of games, despite the fact that the cloud-based games may have a different user perspective. These results have implications for cloud-based game designers and cloud system developers.