Does the future of gaming lie in streaming? Google surely thinks so and is betting heavily on it. As scheduled, the company provided details about its platform ahead of E3 during its first Stadia Connect streamed today.

Failed to fetch tweet https://twitter.com/GoogleStadia/status/1136705564539465729
​

The D Day is sometime in November of this year, when $129 will get you a Stadia Founder's Edition that comes bundled with an exclusive Night Blue Stadia Controller, a Google Chromecast Ultra for streaming to your TV, Destiny 2: The Collection, an exclusive Founder’s Stadia Name, and three months of Stadia Pro without charge for yourself, and three months of Stadia Pro to give away to a friend. With this bundle you can play across laptops, desktops, Pixel 3 and Pixel 3a2 with cross-screen early access from day one.

Note that the Founder Edition bundle is the only way to access Stadia this year. Other subscription services will open up in 2020. Stadia Pro, which is what you get with the Founder's Edition, is priced at $9.99 per month, allows you to play games up to 4K resolution at 60 frames per second with HDR and 5.1 surround sound. The free Stadia Base service which launches next year allows you to buy and keep games capped at 1080p and 60 frames per second with stereo sound but does not allow you to access games for free nor get special discounts which Pro subscribers can enjoy. The controler alone costs $69.

Regarding connectivity requirements, Google claims that "Stadia works across various connections from 35 Mbps down to a recommended minimum of 10 Mbps" and the platform with match resolution from 4K to 720p according to your network’s speed. Here's a nice infographic for that:

As for games, Google announced the following today, with more to come in the future:

• Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2,​
• Doom Eternal, Doom (2016)​
• Rage 2, The Elder Scrolls Online​
• Wolfenstein: Youngblood​
• Destiny 2​
• Get Packed​
• Grid​
• Metro Exodus​
• Thumper​
• Farming Simulator 19​
• Baldur's Gate 3​
• Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid​
• Football Manager​
• Samurai Shodown​
• Final Fantasy XV​
• Tomb Raider Definitive Edition​
• Rise of the Tomb Raider​
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider​
• NBA 2K​
• Borderlands 3​
• Gylt​
• Mortal Kombat 11​
• Darksiders Genesis​
• Assassin's Creed Odyssey​
• Just Dance​
• Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint​
• Tom Clancy's The Division 2​
• Trials Rising​
• The Crew 2​

At launch the Stadia platform will be available in the following 14 countries: US, Canada, UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland.

The service will be accessible via a Chromecast Ultra, a regular Chrome browser on any computer, or a Pixel 3/3a smartphone, with support for more smartphones planned in the future.

What do you think of the Stadia after the announcement? Will you be subscribing for a Founder's Edition or you will wait and see how it fares?

SOURCE​

 

[DarkKaine]

The inevitable transition to streaming games will be the next big blow to gaming since microtransactions. Too bad the uninformed will allow them to continue this. Say goodbye to mods and any kind of Warez unless the servers are hacked. On top of that, as if modern fighters didn't have enough input lag already. Shits borderline unplayable.

 

[eriol33]

huh interesting, I wonder how this will impact the game industry as a whole.

let's say, in a scenario where more people prefer to stream games instead of buying console/PC to play games, what could happen?

 

[pedro702]

huh interesting, I wonder how this will impact the game industry as a whole.

let's say, in a scenario where more people prefer to stream games instead of buying console/PC to play games, what could happen?

i wonder how dlc works on this too, now more and more companys do dlc so they can get more money out of their game, so you stream lets say assassins creed odissey and then they release a new story mode and you will need to pay extra to stream that too? will people really pay extra to stream dlc?

or like COD map paks will people pay extra fees to stream more maps?

 

[eriol33]

i wonder how dlc works on this too, now more and more companys do dlc so they can get more money out of their game, so you stream lets say assassins creed odissey and then they release a new story mode and you will need to pay extra to stream that too? will people really pay extra to stream dlc?

or like COD map paks will people pay extra fees to stream more maps?

I assume the games will be available just later on after the Publishers have maximized their sales, and want to get some licensing fees from the streaming service

 

[Kadji]

I would have prefered a subscription based model like Netflix, but this looks more like PS+ with a few free games every month.
Now I am realy interested what the price for individual games will be like.
If it is 60€ then this will tank hard.

I bought the founders pack anyway.
I don't play that often on PC anymore, and the few games that I would like to enjoy at their best graphic settings don't run well on my PC.
I have high hopes for this service, and in the worst case I got a nice controler to tinker with and a chromecast.

 

[cottonMOUSE]

I'd hope that you can buy at the standard retail console price for games, or with like...a 20% discount if you have the Pro Subscription?

 

[KingVamp]

You think they would at least give a Netflix option for $15-$20 a month, to make all cloud gamers happy.

 

[DANTENDO]

huh interesting, I wonder how this will impact the game industry as a whole.

let's say, in a scenario where more people prefer to stream games instead of buying console/PC to play games, what could happen?

All game shops would be closed and replaced by coffee shops

 

[titan_tim]

It's a nightmare when it comes to preservation, though - knowing industry's current disregard for preserving games, and the fact that it's often on the shoulders of pirates to keep abandoned titles afloat, I'm kinda intimidated by the prospect of streaming-only games. Besides, unless some proper price correction will be in place, it can really screw over some of the poorer countries, where digital purchases are extremely expensive and piracy is the only reasonable option. So, I dunno about "win for gamers".

I've always thought consoles are a nightmare for preservation.

I've had my steam account for many years (Since Quake 2), and I can go back to those old games any time I want to. Yes, some games can be removed due to licenses, but its a really rare thing. I don't think I've lost a game on my 400+ games list yet. The best part is that I can play those games even though I've gone through multiple generations of consoles. Ps1, Ps2, PS3, and soon the ps4 have all come and gone into the closet to collect dust. If I want to play the ps2 games again, doesn't have HDMI, so that's another pain.

But my steam list is still going strong, and easy to install anything. No need to connect anything to my TV. No need to worry about cable types. No need to worry about scratched CD's. The main thing you can worry about is that it ruins the used game market, which is a valid point, but has been creeping up on us for a long time now.

But think about my 2nd point. No more hackers! No more wall-cheats, aimbots, farm bots. None of that crap! The only data being transferred from you is the controller inputs. Online gaming will become clean again!

 

[Pipistrele]

On top of that, as if modern fighters didn't have enough input lag already. Shits borderline unplayable.

Considering how niche and FGC-centered modern fighters are in the first place, I don't expect them to jump to streaming anytime soon - Capcoms and NRSs of the world value pro players too much to risk pissing them off.

huh interesting, I wonder how this will impact the game industry as a whole.

let's say, in a scenario where more people prefer to stream games instead of buying console/PC to play games, what could happen?

I expect that some stuff will be only available via streaming, some will allow for downloads depending on publisher's choice. Kinda like how Spotify and iTunes co-exist together. More independent devs/publishers will probably advertise "it's downloadable" as a feature, like it is with games and physical releases now. All in all, I doubt it'll be full-on downloadapocalypse, just more of a gradual shift and separation of markets. Still a nightmare for preservation though, so not the most optimistic thing in any case.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

I've always thought consoles are a nightmare for preservation.

I've had my steam account for many years (Since Quake 2), and I can go back to those old games any time I want to. Yes, some games can be removed due to licenses, but its a really rare thing. I don't think I've lost a game on my 400+ games list yet. The best part is that I can play those games even though I've gone through multiple generations of consoles. Ps1, Ps2, PS3, and soon the ps4 have all come and gone into the closet to collect dust. If I want to play the ps2 games again, doesn't have HDMI, so that's another pain.

But my steam list is still going strong, and easy to install anything. No need to connect anything to my TV. No need to worry about cable types. No need to worry about scratched CD's. The main thing you can worry about is that it ruins the used game market, which is a valid point, but has been creeping up on us for a long time now.

But think about my 2nd point. No more hackers! No more wall-cheats, aimbots, farm bots. None of that crap! The only data being transferred from you is the controller inputs. Online gaming will become clean again!

Consoles are actually better when it comes to preservation - with PC games, all sorts of DRM measures ([Vietnamese Starforce flashbacks]), incompatibility problems and other things go in the way; there's also no unified formatting for different kind of PC software. With consoles on the other hand, preserving a game is a matter of dumping a ROM/image file - categorizing and properly saving them is a piece of cake after that.

I'm talking more about preserving software than hardware, keep in mind - hardware preservation is a different topic has its separate list of problems. By preserving, I also mean "saving game in playable state so it won't disappear" - whether you can play them or not at the moment is not as relevant as long as the game isn't lost. Steam games by default aren't preserved, since they are on Steam server, and if that closes down, then they'll disappear forecer - you can't actually "preserve" them without hacking/pirating .u.

 

[WhiteMaze]

A free trial would be nice... You know... To see if it works well with you.

If they offered a free trial, everyone would use it the first day, and then cancel the subscription before the first payment, due to the horrible input lag.

That's a lot of money Google would lose!

 

[KingVamp]

I wonder when Steam will go full on cloud gaming.

 

[Bladexdsl]

yeah good fucking luck streaming 4k/60 resolution without it lagging!

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Does the future of gaming lie in streaming? Google surely thinks so and is betting heavily on it

welp they are going to lose that bet

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

allows you to buy and keep games

except your not buying anything your renting them you never own streamed games

 

[froid_san]

I feel this will hurt the gaming industry as a whole on console and especially on the PC.

Devs will become lazy to optimize games since they can just throw those games on stadias powerful pc and servers. Quality of games may also drop due to mobile like environment of a streaming service. Why compete making high-quality games on an over-saturated market when you can make crap games and still make more money with minimal effort?

and whose gonna regulate these games if there are mature contents or full of micro translations if it's accessible by anyone and every device? It's like a big workaround that companies can abuse and capitalize same as the mobile market.

 

[Bimmel]

Dont bother posting in a streaming online thread then

But it's the perfect place to complain about it.

To be serious, that's a valid point. I'll try to contribute a little more next time.

 

[kevin corms]

The inevitable transition to streaming games will be the next big blow to gaming since microtransactions. Too bad the uninformed will allow them to continue this. Say goodbye to mods and any kind of Warez unless the servers are hacked. On top of that, as if modern fighters didn't have enough input lag already. Shits borderline unplayable.

It really isnt inevitable, remember pirates were streaming video long before Netflix got big. Pirates never streamed games, because its a ridiculous idea that doesn't work well.

 

[Pipistrele]

Devs will become lazy to optimize games since they can just throw those games on stadias powerful pc and servers.

I don't think Google will allow that level of shoddiness, considering their servers will take the hit.

Quality of games may also drop due to mobile like environment of a streaming service. Why compete making high-quality games on an over-saturated market when you can make crap games and still make more money with minimal effort?

From my understanding, you still have to buy games on top of subscribing to a service, so developers of undesirable low-effort games won't benefit much.

and whose gonna regulate these games if there are mature contents or full of micro translations if it's accessible by anyone and every device? It's like a big workaround that companies can abuse and capitalize same as the mobile market.

There are rating regulations and age restrictions for mobile games/apps though.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

It really isnt inevitable, remember pirates were streaming video long before Netflix got big. Pirates never streamed games, because its a ridiculous idea that doesn't work well.

Good point - though it was mostly due to game streaming technology being horrible, and now it's actually kinda playable. People use stuff like Steam streaming, PS Remote and similar things quite often nowadays, so technology is proven to an extent.

 

[Ninn]

This looks better than i expected. I like the free Stadia Base service, for cheap bastards like me.
Wonder if we will get games like Apex Legends for Stadia

 

[Kadji]

If Stadia is successfull you can expect all big multiplatform games to show up on Stadia.
Look at the Switch: The console is very popular so devs are throwing ever game they can on it.
The WiiU was a big flop and never recovered from the bad launch, so not many devs were willing to invest time and money in the WiiU ecosystem.

Lesson learned: If there is money to be made then there will be games made for it, especially from the big multiplats (EA, Ubisoft, ActivisionBlizzard).

 

[kevin corms]

If you want to know why im so anti google, here it all is. They always provide sources as well. How can you want to support a company who shields child sex traffickers? Not to mention stadia is a terrible product.
https://www.googletransparencyproject.org/