Start playing TERA: Rising sooner with data streaming

Partnership with Happy Cloud announced

On-demand cloud gaming provider Happy Cloud and En Masse Entertainment have teamed up to offer faster access to TERA: Rising. Players can now check out the free-to-play MMORPG without going through the typical installation process.

The tech powering this “works by delivering the game’s content files — images, video, sound, and game logic — to the end user’s computer as they play, in the order they are needed.” According to Happy Cloud, the end result is an elimination of “over 90% of the initial download and the entire installation process.” For something the size of an MMO, that sounds quite nice.

I think they’re on to something here, so long as streaming performance is appropriately decent enough. Speaking as someone who dabbles in free-to-play games, the main factor preventing me from checking out more titles is often the setup process itself.