New rules of the game – Brand Wagon News

By Sreekanth Natarajan

Gaming in India has come a long way from PCs and gaming consoles to high-speed wireless gaming on smartphones and tablets. Mobile gaming is now a highly popular entertainment option for many. The expansion and development of online gaming presents substantial opportunities for the gaming ecosystem.

However, the increased demands for speed and bandwidth, which were addressed by earlier generations of Wi-Fi and other wireless technologies did not gain enough confidence for hardcore gaming enthusiasts who relied a Ethernet connection as a backup for redundancy. Wi-Fi 7 now offers low-cost deployment, easy maintenance, and reliable data delivery, making it one of the most viable technologies for meeting the gaming connectivity.

With peak rates as high as 40 Gbps and consistently low latency, Wi-Fi 7 can elevate wireless experiences and easily support use cases such as social cloud-based gaming, extended reality (XR), and many other applications. The fact that Wi-Fi 7 supports 4K QAM technique, High Band Simultaneous Multi-Link technology, and 320 MHz channels gives it some unique advantages. The channel bandwidth of 320 MHz enables more data to be transmitted; it is akin to driving on a speedway, as opposed to smaller roads. 4K QAM, 320 Mhz, Puncturing and other key features boosts the peak rates, density and increases the throughput and capacity of Wi-Fi 7 to more than 2X compared to the previous versions of the technology for the same Wi-Fi configuration.

Wi-Fi 7 also ably supports augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), extended reality (XR), cloud gaming, video conferencing and 4K/8K video streaming — elements that are increasingly featuring in the new, evolving generation of games. Both AR and VR gaming are gaining popularity globally. According to a report by Industry ARC, the global AR/VR gaming market could touch $11 billion by 2026 — a CAGR of 18.5% from 2021 to 2026.

Wi-Fi 7 easily supports such AR/VR/XR/AI-enabled games and exceptionally high-quality video with very high refresh rates, even in a multiplayer setting. The high speed and low latency of Wi-Fi 7 prevent any lag from creeping in, which could otherwise dampen the experience. Wi-Fi 7 enables simultaneous high-throughput links to different devices, enabling distributed XR gaming experiences. Designed to handle a higher number of connected devices simultaneously, the technology adapts to the demands of modern gaming households with multiple players and different smart devices.

Wi-Fi will continue to grow in the future; it will evolve just like other wireless technologies, particularly in tandem with 5G. Government initiatives like PM Wani will accelerate Wi-Fi deployment. Wi-Fi 7 can more than meet the requirements of sophisticated games and applications preventing users from outgrowing their network capabilities quickly. It supports various consumer use cases beyond gaming and is poised to catalyse new ones in the future. It will be a crucial pillar of a connected, digital India.

The writer is senior director, technology at Qualcomm India