Airtel's live 5G Cloud Gaming trial stuns pro gamers Mortal and Mamba

The telecom giant invited two of India's pro gamers - Mortal (Naman Mathur) and Mamba (Salman Ahmad) to test the technology firsthand. The two gamers used mid-segment smartphones connected to a 3500 MHz high capacity spectrum band, and it's safe to say that gaming on a 5G connection proved to be a completely different experience for them. The Airtel 5G test network delivered download speeds of over 1 Gbps and latency of 10milliseconds, leaving them visibly impressed.

“This was high-end PC and console-quality gaming experience on a smartphone. We can say with confidence that 5G will truly unlock the online gaming scene in India and massify it by creating opportunities to build and publish games out of India and bringing a lot of talented gamers from small towns to the mainstream. Thank you, Airtel, for giving us this wonderful opportunity,” they said.

What exactly will 5G do for cloud gaming?

Cloud gaming allows users to stream a game on any device with a display - it could be a smartphone, TV, tablet, etc., even if it is not equipped with special hardware. This is because the games are installed on the remote server of the gaming technology platform, from where they are streamed to a device. To put it simply, cloud gaming works like most OTT platforms, where you can choose a show and stream it straight onto your smartphone. This also takes away the need for discs and consoles for that perfect experience.

Talking about the experience, Mortal and Mamba said that cloud gaming on Airtel 5G was an absolute delight, and they are thrilled that global innovations are coming to India. They pointed out that with no lag, low latency and ping, 5G is a gamer’s dream, and they cannot wait for it to launch commercially.

5G will open new doors for the gaming industry and pro gamers

Gaming has evolved in India over the past decade, and mobile gaming forms a major share of this new revolution. With better smartphone penetration and a vast youth population, India - home to over 400 million gamers - is expected to see 500+ million gamers by 2022. The country also has a market potential of $2.4 billion. 5G, along with cloud gaming, will accelerate the growth of this ecosystem and change the very way the masses game.

The gamers pointed out that, unlike India, many countries recognise gaming as an actual sport. But 5G could change this by making cloud gaming more accessible to anyone with a smartphone. With the right infrastructure in place, this could unlock numerous opportunities for individual gamers. And as more and more players get recognition and the ecosystem gets built, more youngsters will take up gaming as a full-time career.

Randeep Sekhon, CTO, Bharti Airtel, added, “Cloud gaming will be one of the biggest use cases of 5G thanks to the combination of high speed and low latency. After delivering India’s first 5G demo over a test network, we are thrilled to conduct this exciting 5G gaming session. Imagine enjoying real-time gaming on the go with someone sitting in another part of the world. This is just the beginning of an exciting digital future that Airtel will enable for its customers as we prepare to roll out 5G in India.”

With its latest 5G cloud gaming demo event, Airtel has taken another step towards ushering in 5G technology in India. Just earlier this year, the telecom brand successfully hosted a live demonstration in Hyderabad, where it tested 5G services over a 4G network. It also partnered with Nokia and Ericsson to conduct 5G trials in multiple cities across India.