A few months ago, I had posted here asking about startups, and appreciated the responses given. It helped me look deeper into an opportunity that came up, and guided my decision to join.

With the Game Developers Conference starting next week, the company I joined will be showing the service is alive and running. Gone are the selective beta gates, and instead we are letting anyone within reach of our servers to try it out. But what is it exactly?

Gaikai is a service that is basically remote desktop for high end applications, like video games. A client connects to our servers, and the server runs the game, collecting input from the client and streaming the video and audio back to the client. We aren't the first in this space, but we have a different approach then our main competitor. Instead of selling games direct to end users, and having them always play via the service, our approach is one of a demo service. We want to enable game companies and other high end application producers to allow end users to try a demo without friction. Instead of requiring a large file download, install process, and possibly a high spec machine, our tech enables a company to just embed the demo in their web page. This allows someone to try a demo for free nearly instantly, and then they can make a more informed buying decision.

One of the important questions from the startup thread was about business feasibility. Having worked in the games industry for 5 years, the demo issue is a big problem. As games get more complex, it becomes harder to package up something that represents the full experience while also keeping file download sizes small. There is a surprising number of users who will sign up for an MMO trial, but never make it in game to give it a go. With the Gaikai service, file sizes no longer matter to the end user, and it's a much quicker turnaround time from interest to actual hands on game time. Seeing the tech in action during my interview proved to me it could be done well. So right there I knew there would be interest, and Gaikai would have customers in the form of game companies.

The other part of feasibility is of course the ability to eventually turn a profit, and ensuring there is enough initial investment to keep the service alive until that day arrives. Gaikai's approach is to tap into the existing marketing budgets of games. We charge based on per minute usage of the service, and the costs are competitive to running banner ads on major sites. The team has run the numbers, and seems to have found the right balance between how many servers are needed and what can be reasonably charged for the service. The initial two rounds of investments have been completed, and some big names were involved, including Intel and Limelight networks. So far, things look solid on this front.

David Perry is our CEO, and he's been around the industry for a long time. He brings a lot of good business sense to the table for us, and also knows the right ways to run a development shop. He cofounded the company with two technical people, one of them being the creator of the base tech that powers the Gaikai service. It's a good blend of technical knowledge and business sense at the top, and after interviewing with them, it was clear to me they had a pretty stable startup.

If you want to give our service a try, we have a few ways of doing so:

1. EA is running a beta of a Sims 3 trial
2. Gaikai is running a short gaming related survey before allowing access to a Dead Space 2 demo
3. Linden Labs is running a trial of Second Life
4. Gaikai.com also has Mass Effect 2

#1 and #2 will show our testing process (bandwidth, available plugins to use, proximity to a data center), and is the best way to go to see if you can use the service currently. Numbers 3 and 4 represent how the service will work as more customers roll it out. The idea there is that the same tests happen silently in the background while a user is browsing a site, and if the tests pass, the user is presented with an in page popup inviting them to play. If conditions aren't right for the instant service, the user is never notified they missed something, and will proceed with the normal way of evaluating a game.

For more insight on the company and our future plans, David posted more info to his blog.

There is also a recent episode of The Jace Hall show where Jace interviews David Perry. It's on youtube here. The Gaikai part is at the beginning, and resumes at the 4:26 marker. Fair warning, the overall show is not safe for work. Oddly, it also has Jace over at my former employer playing DC Universe Online.