Earlier this year, new of Google's plans to build a hardware-based game streaming service called Yeti started doing the rounds. After that small tidbit that Google might be prepping to take on Nvidia GeForce Now and PlayStation Now, no new information about came up. However, folks over at 9to5Google have now found a reference to Yeti in an unlikely place, in the Chromium code commits. The service is mentioned in a Chromecast related section and the commit seems to be made as there is some audio video (A/V) syncing issue with Chromecast. It’s indeed irritating if A/V is not in proper sync and this not only affects a user while watching a video but is also a hindrance while gaming.
So, where does Yeti come in? Seems like the Yeti team has set an A/V sync threshold of 50ms beyond which the sync issue becomes quite noticeable. While the information might not be exciting at all, it’s the first proof that something called Yeti exists at Google and is in the company’s pipeline. The commit also suggests that it could work within Chromium and might finally enable Google to enter the gaming industry, which is a $109 billion market. Previous reports have also suggested that the Yeti gaming service could work with Google’s Chromecast dongle, however, Google could also be considering its own hardware with a controller for the service.
A previous report suggested that the Yeti project is being led by two Google hardware executives– Mario Queiroz, VP of product management, and Majd Bakar, VP of engineering. The company is said to have also hired Phil Harrison, who spent 15 years with Sony's PlayStation division and three years working with Microsoft's Xbox division.
Game streaming services seem to be the future as the concept takes away the need to purchase any expensive hardware. One will only need a super fast and stable internet connection as all processing will be taken care on the server side of whichever game streaming service a user subscribes to.