Google unveiled its “vision for the future of gaming” today, a cloud gaming service called Stadia. So far, the only game announced for the service will be id Software’s upcoming first-person shooter Doom Eternal. It will run on Stadia at 4K resolution with HDR color at 60 fps.
Stadia is Google’s effort to move beyond console gaming. During its presentation today, the company demonstrated how players will be able to view a game clip on YouTube, and then instantly access it to play without a download or installation. Google previously played with the possibilities of its service with Project Stream, where players were able to play Assassin’s Creed Odyssey in their browser.
As for what games Stadia might feature, announcements are currently still scarce. In addition to featuring games like Doom Eternal, Google created its own studio that will work on Stadia-exclusive experiences, led by longtime developer and executive Jade Raymond.
Stadia is expected to launch this year.
Comments
I was so hyped that we will get "early access" today. But nope.. :sad:
By LegenDaddy on 03.19.19 7:33pm
I don’t really have a lot of hope for this service, because I don’t think Google gets gaming.
They should have approached this like the launch of a new console. You don’t announce a new gaming platform with only a single game, and a multi-platform one at that. They should have been blowing us away with major exclusive titles from top developers – that’s how you get consumers excited. Google seems more interested in the back-end stuff than the games, which is in some ways predictable, but it’s also entirely backwards for how you make a video game platform (and that’s what this is) a success.
Google also seems to be taking an "if you build it, they will come" attitude towards developers, which also never, ever works.
By badasscat1 on 03.19.19 8:32pm
If the service can provide high level gaming at a low entry level it has a huge advantage over all other competitors. If it’s cheaper for a parent to get this instead of dishing out $400+ on a comparable gaming rig it’ll be a homerun. But alas… Price was never discussed.
If it was somehow Chromecast compatible it would definitely make things interesting compared to all other options out there.
I for one played AC during Project Stream beta and the experience was on par with consoles save for some compression artifacts here and there. The latency wasn’t noticeable to me.
By MaDBoOmAh on 03.19.19 9:23pm
It is Chromecast compatible, it’ll work anywhere chrome does
By adriaaaaan on 03.20.19 3:40am
By MaDBoOmAh on 03.20.19 7:50am
This is key. I’ve mentioned it before, but a number of years ago, when Google introduced the Play Games API, they started on this all-new push for mobile gaming, having seen how successful it was and wanting to be on that train. Naturally, they weren’t supporting small developers like 11 bit Studios, maker of Anomaly: Warzone Earth, or Kumobius, maker of the excellent Bean’s Quest. Oh no, they were putting enormous mobile dev houses front and center, the kinds of devs that didn’t need exposure because they already had millions upon millions playing and paying every day. So mobile gaming continued to be infested with microtransactional scummery, pay-to-win schemes, and inconveniencing game design for the purpose of herding people toward the in-app purchase screen to become less irritated. And Google was at the forefront of it, because they weren’t interested in games, they were interested in revenue, revenue that comes from the store cut they received from IAPs originating from predatory mobile experiences. They had to bring in people with outside [READ: actual inside] perspectives on gaming to help run the division because they’re well aware that they are ill-equipped to do this on their own. Not that this is a bad thing, but they have yet to prove that their interest in games isn’t just to help make Clash of Clans even more viral on YT than it already might be.
By Eric Berggren on 03.20.19 2:56pm