Verizon is banking on cloud gaming to be a killer app for 5G. During a keynote presentation at Mobile World Congress Las Vegas, Krista Bourne, COO of Verizon’s Consumer Group, teased that the company is teaming with Qualcomm and Razer to introduce Razer Edge 5G, a 5G gaming handheld device that will run on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon G3X Gen 1 gaming platform. The Razer Edge 5G is Android-based and will give users access to games that can either be downloaded and played locally, streamed from a gaming console, or accessed directly from the cloud using Verizon’s 5G network. The device will support both the carrier’s C-band and mmWave 5G network.
Specifics about the device are scarce right now but more details are promised to come on October 15 at RazorCon, a digital event hosted by Razer for the gaming community.
The news isn’t entirely a surprise because Qualcomm had already been collaborating with Razer. Late last year when Qualcomm debuted its Snapdragon G3X Gen 1 gaming platform the company said that Razer was launching a handheld developer kit based upon its first generation of the Snapdragon G3x.
It’s unclear, however, whether consumers will want a dedicated 5G gaming device. Historically, mobile gaming-specific devices have been met with lackluster response from consumers. Twenty years ago Nokia introduced N-Gage, a smartphone that combined the features of a mobile phone with a handheld game system but that device was discontinued a few years later due to low demand.
However, Avi Greengart, president of Techsponential, believes the time is right for a device like the Razer Edge 5G because consumers are increasing the number of devices that they are connecting, thanks to 5G’s high speeds and low latency. Plus, he said that many gamers, who are accustomed to playing their games at their PC or on a gaming console, are looking for ways to play games anywhere they want too and the only way to do that is with a 5G connection. “This gives you more opportunities to game,” he said.
But Greengart also noted that much of the Razer Edge 5G’s success depends on how Verizon packages the 5G connectivity with the device and whether the operator subsidizes the device. If it’s an add-on to an existing plan, Greengart thinks it will be very easy for consumers to decide to buy the device.
The June 2022 Ericsson Mobility Report found that 35 service providers globally have launched 5G packages that include cloud gaming services. Most of these cloud gaming services are packaged as a bundle where the operator sells the service along with the gaming hardware. However, in some cases operators have created specific packages targeting gamers with different 5G speed tiers.