Halo 2 was the video game that became a game changer. Released in 2004, it connected players across the world at the click of a button, allowing users of Microsoft’s Xbox console to voice chat, play different game modes or even challenge complete strangers. Today, game developers are tantalisingly close to another watershed moment: the advent of “cloud gaming”. Thanks to improvements in telecommunications and data storage, significant computing power is no longer required on a local device; instead, games can be streamed from a data centre directly to a smartphone. For the 2.7bn active gamers worldwide, cloud services like these promise unfettered access to thousands of digitally stored games — titles that previously could only have been played on a console or high-spec gaming computer. And this is just the beginning. In an arms race to bring new games to market, companies are experimenting with cloud-enabled features and designs.