Could the retailer be a serious contender in the game streaming space?
The retail giant Walmart has reportedly been in talks with developers and publishers for a few months with a view allegedly to launch its own video game streaming platform.
Anonymous sources familiar with Walmart’s plans have spoken to USG about the endeavour, saying the idea allegedly has been in the works since earlier this year, with Walmart supposedly continuing the conversation with various contacts at GDC.
The news follows in the footsteps of Google’s game streaming platform, Stadia, unveiled at the company’s GDC 2019 keynote.
Google is certainly in a better position to make a success of such a streaming service, due to the amount of servers and computer power at its disposal.
Walmart’s Area 71 data centre in Missouri reportedly holds over 460 trillion bytes of data, and the company has Walmart Labs – its tech-centric offices located in Silicon Valley – championing the brand’s digital presence.
Whether the company sees this as purely speculative for now, or a viable branch of business is unknown, but IGN has reached out to Walmart for comment.
Shabana is a freelance writer who enjoys JRPGs, wine, and not finishing games. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
