We can play gaming

With video games from the cloud, Deutsche Telekom combines network, software and innovative power for customers. Our MagentaGaming team is eagerly awaiting the Gamescom games fair. MagentaGaming will be a part of it.

The countdown has started. Everything is in place. But the rising tension was palpable in the room at an appointment shortly before the launch of MagentaGaming, Telekom's cloud gaming offering. Claudia Nemat, Board member for Technology and Innovation, met with our Head of Innovation Omar Tazi and the experts from the MagentaGaming team in our Telekom Design Gallery in Bonn. The location was well chosen for this. The Telekom Design Gallery  is designed to draw attention to the lives of people in the digital networked world of the future. 

This is Cloud-Gaming 

So also on MagentaGaming, For months, a team of more than 70 people has been feverishly awaiting the start of this year's Gamescom  games fair and preparing the platform for it. That's what it's all about: video games via the cloud from everywhere, on different devices. MagentaGaming opens up easy access to many games, including "The Surge 2" for everyone over 18 and for the younger ones games like "Asterix & Obelix XXL 3". "We will also be offering a Gamescom Special, which will allow us to temporarily put some games on the platform for customers to try out that are not yet available on the market," explained Dominik Lauf, Program Lead MagentaGaming.

With cloud gaming, computing power no longer comes from your own PC or console. Instead, as the name suggests, it is outsourced to the cloud. High-performance servers stream the games directly to the respective end device. The latter only has to display the input and output - i.e. show pictures and sound and record the control input. In other words: no special gaming hardware, no purchase of expensive PCs and laptops, no constant hardware upgrades or long waits for installations and downloads. The games as well as the memory levels are always accessible via different platforms. The gamers start with their smartphone, stop, and later continue playing on their saved game on their laptop.

Good gamer feedback

The beta test has been running for a year with over 1,800 monthly active players and around 20,000 registrations - and that without any advertising activities. As Dominik Lauf and Robert Winter explained, this was in line with the server strength and provided valuable feedback. This was continuously incorporated into the further development of the product. And it is positive, as a look at the highlights shows:
 

• Customer satisfaction: In surveys of the beta testers, the recommendation rate rose to a high value. The team is committed to educating customers on how to get the best connectivity from their devices in their homes. This was reflected in tips on the platform, among other things, which will continue to play a role in the future. "Above all, the new design and usability scored highly with 86 percent satisfaction among the testers," said Martin Guder.
• Reputation: "To continue the development on an equal footing with experts from the industry and to incorporate the know-how of partners and developers in order to meet the requirements of the industry - this is a high and honored good, which we will continue to pay close attention to in the future", said Dominik Lauf.
• Deutsche Telekom's role: The software architecture is sophisticated. It relies on strong partners as well as on a completely new hardware infrastructure, decentralized in the data centers of our technical department. Deutsche Telekom has taken the lead and the key control points in the mixed situation - the entire ecosystem is flexible enough to allow new partners to dock and react flexibly to the market, as Kai Kreuzer, Martin Guder and Dominik Lauf emphasized.
• Scalability: The course has been set for many subscribers, as well as for export to the national companies, where the launch with Telekom Deutschland serves as a blueprint. Lauf: "But the central platform will then become the hub of an international customer base in order to continue to meet other OTT services at eye level and become a relevant player in the market". The expansion to various other platforms and devices is also already being planned.
• Fast wires: In cloud gaming, Deutsche Telekom scores with high bandwidths and strong networks, both in the fixed network and mobile via LTE and 5G. The close and constant link between the team and technology ensures that jitter and latency, the pain points of gamers, are becoming ever less. Jitter causes jerkiness. Latency is the delay caused by the path of each controller activity of the customer to the data center, where it is processed, and back. Computer centers close to the customer should shorten the distances. Of course, the home network also plays an important role - the team wants to further expand the support for customers. 

But from the customer's point of view, not everything is perfect yet. MagentaGaming is available for PC and Mac, as well as for Android smartphones and tablets. Due to Apple's strict specifications, the way to the Apple store is not yet clear. The same applies to all other providers of cloud gaming services. At least customers will receive another key to MagentaGaming with the MagentaTV stick from next year.

With MagentaGaming, Deutsche Telekom is making a special effort for the young target group - and recently also on the live streaming platform "Twitch", where players of the e-sports team SK Gaming can be regularly watched playing on the Deutsche Telekom channel.

"Passionate Team"

“Network strength combined with software, partnering and innovation power and above all: passion - these are the ingredients for success," says Claudia Nemat. "Here a passionate team has developed great solutions for exciting customer experiences and coordinated them with our networks. And all this in a very short time. From a strategic point of view, MagentaGaming completes our entertainment portfolio. Chapeau!“

On TopicManagement unplugged: Deutsche Telekom gives video games the power of the cloud