Sony and KDDI Succeed at Stable Game Streaming on 5G SA in Crowded Conditions

Sony Corporation
KDDI Corporation

On September 13, 2023, Sony Corporation ("Sony") and KDDI Corporation ("KDDI") succeeded at a technological demonstration (hereafter "the demonstration") to check the connection quality needed for game streaming over a commercial 5G standalone network ("5G SA") in crowded areas such as event venues.

This demonstration aimed to provide connection quality for players to enjoy gaming comfortably without stress. This is measured by the 'gaming comfort level' indicator that Sony set to measure the correlation between gaming experience and connection quality. The demonstration connected an Xperia smartphone to a network slice customized for game streaming. The results confirmed that players could enjoy stable gaming on public 5G networks, ensuring the quality needed for game streaming even in crowds, unaffected by others using 5G for watching videos and social media.
As an example of a future use case, users could enjoy stress-free game-streaming by accessing their gaming console at home via their smartphones, even in crowded places such as stadiums or event venues.

■Background

• Sony's mobile communications business is actively researching and developing mobile communication technologies. As the need to use 5G mobile communication across the entire Sony group increases, one of the beneficiaries of 5G is game streaming. As such, Sony is vigorously promoting 5G to gamers.
• In April 2023, KDDI launched a 5G SA service on au. As more Xperia smartphones are starting to support 5G SA, Sony and KDDI are verifying technology [1] to create new business-use cases and entertainment services that use features unique to 5G SA, such as network slicing.
• With people going out more as COVID restrictions have been lifted, the number of people who stream games away from home is increasing. However, stress-free gaming requires network environments optimized for gaming animations and maneuvers.
• Sony and KDDI are progressing 5G SA technological verifications to enable more people to enjoy stress-free game streaming. They have established network slices [2] that allow users to enjoy game streaming in a 5G SA environment outside, and verified technology [3] that provides even smoother game play, using multiple network slices as needed.

■About the demonstration

1. Setting 'gaming comfort levels'

Sony evaluated how users' level of gaming comfort changes during game streaming, depending on their connection environment. Specifically, they examined how the stability of video signals and operating signals affected the comfort level, to what extent, and set 'gaming comfort levels' accordingly.

2. Demonstrating a designated network slice for gaming

• In this demonstration, the companies utilized a network slice dedicated for game streaming to ensure the connection quality required for stress-free game streaming.
• In the technological verification conducted in 2022 [2], smartphones were connected with network slices for game streaming customized to enable high-definition game graphics to ensure stable connection in a congested setting. Results show that when conventional 5G became congested, gaming could be affected by the use of other connections. However, with the network slices dedicated to game streaming used in this demonstration, the quality required for game streaming was secured, unhindered by 5G communications, even in an area with many mobile devices using 5G.
• In this demonstration, games were streamed between a home gaming console (connected to a home Internet connection) and an Xperia smartphone connected to a 5G network that reproduced the environment of a crowded event venue. Then, the gameplay comfort level was measured. Ultimately, the Xperia smartphone connected to the network slice dedicated to game streaming satisfied connection quality at a high 'gaming comfort level' with respect to the transmission of video and operating signals. Results confirmed that the smartphone connected with a network slice dedicated to game streaming could play even in congested environments like an event venue without being affected by the connections of other smartphones.
• With these demonstration results, KDDI aims to provide networks that enable people to enjoy stress-free gaming even in congested network conditions, such as in stadiums and event venues with large crowds.

Sony and KDDI will continue to verify 5G SA network technologies for game streaming and pursue initiatives for creating new entertainment services.

• [1]

  September 27, 2021 KDDI news release
  Large-Volume Content for Online Live Streaming Services in the 5G SA Era Successfully Streamed Stably
  ―8K video streaming verified with Sony, using network slicing and MEC― (in Japanese only)

• [2]

  February 28, 2022 Sony and KDDI news release
  Sony and KDDI Succeed at using 5G Standalone for PlayStation (R) Game Streaming and 8K Live Streaming
  ―Technological demonstrations to collaboratively create business and entertainment services with 5G SA―

• [3]

  December 16, 2022 Sony and KDDI news release
  Sony and KDDI Succeed at Concurrent Communications Using Multiple Network Slices in 5G Standalone
  ―The world's first, one application uses multiple network slices concurrently―

• "Sony" and the product names, service names and logo marks in this press release are registered trademarks or trademarks of Sony Group Corporation or its affiliates.