Aju Business Daily

SEOUL -- SK Telecom, South Korea's top mobile carrier, has partnered with American technology company Microsoft to test operate a 5G-based cloud gaming service next month as competition grows in the emerging cloud gaming market to attract attention from young consumers. Microsoft's cloud technology will be combined with a 5G network.

Cloud gaming refers to a service which connects PCs or game consoles to devices such as smartphones and tablet PCs to display streamed game screens. Because some cloud gaming services have main servers which do all the computing, users do not need any device other than their smartphones to play the latest games from anywhere at any time with low latency.

"Project xCoud", an Xbox-based cloud gaming service, was showcased during an event co-hosted by SK Telecom (SKT) and Microsoft in Seoul on Wednesday. Xbox is Microsoft's game console series with more than 64 million users worldwide.

The two companies would test the cloud gaming service in South Korea in October with SKT serving as an exclusive business partner of Microsoft's Project xCoud operation. The mobile carrier said that the two companies would co-promote 5G-based cloud gaming services.

SKT's mobile network operation head Yoo Young-sang said that Microsoft and SKT would create completely new values. "We will continue to provide our customers with innovative next-generation mobile gaming experience."

Microsoft said it has chosen South Korea as its testbed for Project xCoud because of its good infrastructure and a large gaming market which is the fourth largest in the world.

The partnership came about a week after LGU+, a mobile carrier, and NVIDIA, an American graphics technology company, agreed to start a 5G-based cloud gaming service for free. Google and other tech companies have also revealed plans to provide 5G-based cloud gaming services.

The idea of cloud gaming or remote gaming has been around for over a decade, but its development gained traction recently thanks to the introduction of 5G, which is about 10 times faster than that of 4G and conventional internet. A normal cloud gaming service would consume up to six gigabytes of 5G data per hour.