Bigfoot Networks, Gaikai Form Cloud Streaming Tech Partnership

Bigfoot Networks, provider of low-latency online game products, and cloud gaming company Gaikai have announced a technology partnership aimed at increasing streaming game performance. The results of the partnership are intended to further reduce latency within Gaikai's streaming game network -- latency is one of the primary challenges facing cloud gaming companies. San Jose-based Bigfoot Networks has been around since 2006, years before the cloud-based gaming trend emerged. Its "Killer" line of networking hardware can be found in gaming PCs. "Bigfoot Networks' Killer technology will make any cloud gaming system perform better right now, and we look forward to developing joint technologies that bring those benefits to an even wider audience," said Gaikai CEO and industry veteran David Perry. Gaikai is launching as a service that will allow web-goers to click through an online advertisement and almost immediately start playing a streaming game demo from a standard web browser, with no need for download or installation on a local PC. Game data is stored at remote, strategically-located datacenters. Bigfoot said its products will now automatically recognize the Gaikai service. The two companies did not go into further detail about the partnership, although they promise more details in the coming months.