Mercedes-Benz has announced a partnership with Boosteroid to offer AAA gaming experiences in vehicles at gamescom 2024. Starting next year, the Boosteroid app will be available as part of the MBUX Entertainment Package Plus for vehicles equipped with the third-generation MBUX infotainment system. This collaboration marks a significant step toward immersive in-car gaming.

Vlad Kosmin, Vice President of Boosteroid, shared more details about the partnership in an interview with Watermelo. "Boosteroid is the world’s largest independent cloud gaming provider and the third largest market player after Microsoft Xbox and Nvidia GeForce Now," Kosmin explained. "We have over 5.8 million users across Europe, North & South America. Our mission is to make video games available for anyone on any platform, and we’ve had the idea of launching in-car gaming for quite a while. Mercedes-Benz has a really sophisticated gaming and eSports strategy, and in-car gaming has been part of their connected car development roadmap. We connected months ago and started exploring what we could do together to kick off a real AAA-gaming experience in the car. At gamescom 2024 in Cologne, we showcased the product we will launch in vehicles in early 2025."

The initial feedback from gamers who experienced AAA titles like Fortnite and Starfield directly in the E-Class was extremely positive. Kosmin reported, "We’ve received amazing feedback. Customers, gamers, industry experts, even competitors – everyone was really impressed and surprised. It’s the first time in history AAA games are launched in the car via cloud gaming, and it marks an important milestone in in-car infotainment. Just like radio and car stereo revolutionized the way we spend time in our cars many decades ago, cloud gaming in the car is changing our in-vehicle entertainment experience."

Kosmin also noted that the reception exceeded expectations. "It is now clear that the technology is ready for all challenges associated with in-car cloud gaming (connectivity, latency, etc.) and that AAA games, some of the world’s most popular titles, are exactly what users need to play in their cars. Over 94% of gamers prefer PC video games (including high-end AAA games), and this is what you need to offer in the car."

When asked about the future impact of this partnership on cloud gaming and in-car entertainment, Kosmin revealed, "Boosteroid has been in contact with many automotive providers regarding in-car gaming. We are proud to launch with one of the world’s biggest names in the automotive industry – Mercedes-Benz, and we continue to work together to launch Boosteroid in Mercedes-Benz vehicles equipped with the third-generation MBUX infotainment system in early 2025. At the same time, our goal is to make in-car cloud gaming mainstream in 3-5 years, and we will work with many industry players in the future to achieve that."

Kosmin concluded with a vision for the future: "We are on the brink of a new reality where the new generation of people has video games as their preferred entertainment content, which has never been the case before. Those people will soon start buying cars and, in 5-10 years, will constitute the vast majority of automotive customers and vehicle owners/users. This is why in-car gaming is strategically relevant and important – you just can’t ignore what 90% of your consumers like!"