The Epic Games v Apple trial has continued to reveal interesting tidbits of news, with the latest being Walmart's Project Storm, a previously-unannounced cloud game streaming service. Through leaked documents we now know that it was pitched to Mark Rein, the vice president of Epic Games, who said that the experience "felt like playing on PS4 and superior to playing on Android or iOS." It was also better compared to playing on a Surface Pro laptop and more comfortable than a Nintendo Switch. That's... pretty high praise overall.
This took place just over two years ago in April 2019, with executives of Epic Games going into depth on their discussions on Cloud Gaming, Fortnite, and how they can make money off platforms like the GeForce Experience, Project Storm and the Google Stadia.
After the (evidently) successful meeting, Walmart sent some more information to Epic Games, showing how Walmart's share (as of April 2019) in digital games was only 2% and they wanted to get in on the action. For physical gaming Walmart was in good shape (holding 25% of market share) but it was declining at a 2% rate a year and they wanted a way to manage the sinking ship.
Interestingly, Walmart was to go into beta in July 2019 with Project Storm, but that clearly never happened as it was never announced, but rather revealed off hand two years later during a court case. Something must have happened, as Epic Games eventually went with Nvidia's GeForce Experience last year for iOS, which is now the only way to play Fortnite on that platform. Whether or not Project Storm is still in the works we don't know at this time.
For more information on the Epic Games v Apple trial, Project Storm, and everything in between, stay tuned to TechRaptor for more information.
What do you think of this news? Do you think Walmart could've done a good job with cloud streaming? Let us know in the comments!
