Bouygues to launch cloud gaming service via IPTV box

French telco Bouygues Telecom is launching a console-quality cloud-based gaming service.

The service, Bbox Games, will give Bouygues’s IPTV customers access to Playcast Media’s cloud gaming platform via existing Bbox set-tops. When it launches in spring, the platform will offer titles including Street Fighter, Sonic Generations, MotoGP, Call of Duty and Lego Batman.

Bouygues subscribers will pay a monthly fee for a games bundle featuring Playcast’s premium titles. Playcast’s service is already available to Portugal Telecom and Singtel customers.

Olivier Roussat, Bouygues Telecom’s CEO, said: “We are very proud to be the first telecom operator in the French market to bring such high profile games franchises and AAA titles directly   to our customers’ TVs, through an easy-to-use interface.”

Operators are increasingly looking to gaming services as a means of differentiating their offerings. Last week, another French service provider, SFR, launched a cloud-based gaming-on-demand service, allowing subscribers to access games via the Neufbox TV service.