G-cluster

G-cluster is a Finnish cloud gaming provider. It was founded in 2000, but has been a wholly owned subsidiary of SoftBank since 2004. It uses IPTV set-top boxes for their service. Their target audience is gamers who already have gaming consoles and has a game selection consisting of casual games as well as high-end titles.

G-cluster's business model was introduced in the article "Developing Cloud Business Models: A Case Study on Cloud Gaming" ^[1] of the IEEE Software Magazine (July/August 2011).

Cloud gaming as a gaming-on-demand technology was originally implemented by G-cluster. The first commercial roll-out of the service was for CYTA in 2005 on their IPTV network.^[2] In March 2008, G-cluster announced HD support in their solution in with Amino IPTV STB.^[3] In November 2010, after thorough beta testing, French operator SFR launched a commercial service based on G-cluster technology. Making it the largest cloud gaming deployment in the world. G-cluster signed content acquisition deals with the leading game studios in the world, including Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Sega, Gameloft, Disney, Warner. G-cluster was the first cloud gaming platform to launch a AAA Console game day and date in the cloud : Konami Pro Evolution Soccer : https://www.itweb.co.za/content/nkLgB17eVmYM59N4 Between 2010 and 2016 The company led by Erik Piehl ( President and CTO) and Sevan Kessissian (SVP Business and Content Strategy) received investments from the largest Telecom carriers in the world including, Orange, SFR and NTT. ^[4]^[5]

In July 2016, Broadmedia corporation acquired G-cluster.^[6] Broadmedia operates cloud gaming services in Japan and overseas.