Google Stadia instead of next gen console??
Discussion
Jinx said:
Yet all I'd be thinking about, if I had one, were the specs of the virtual machine I'm running on 
I really don't care how Google is able to deliver stuff like this via WiFi and a device half the size of my phone!I paid £12 for Assassin Creed with months ago, 18hrs in I feel like I've barely started the game - only done 1 conquest battle, and it just looks gorgeous on a 4K OLED screen - even when streamed at 1080P. £ per hour of entertainment its fab value, Google must be haemorrhaging cash keeping it going though as the back end tech cannot be cheap to run or maintain.
geeks said:
I would feel very twitchy right now if I were a Stadia user
https://9to5google.com/2021/05/03/stadia-john-just...
Really?https://9to5google.com/2021/05/03/stadia-john-just...
Looking at my games playing record it looks like I've managed to rack up 230hs+ of gaming since starting using Stadia last year, across a whole range of games. Am actually amazed at how much gaming I've been able to do now that games aren't tied down to one device/screen! Prior to Stadia I recon my xbox was been turned once every 6 months.
Am currently enjoying the not too serious to racing that is Grid (versus total focus needed for F1 2020).
Stadia does what its says it does, it just lets you play games. I'm very happy with it
.
Edited by gangzoom on Tuesday 4th May 21:08
^The 'Sales' on Stadia have been great, picked up Borderlands 3 on the back of good reviews, but I just don't enjoy it that much, Ghost Recon Breakpoint on the other hand for £10 is the best value game I've bought on Stadia.
Work has been nuts recently, but been able to jump into some mindless shooter straight from back to back work meetings has kept me half sane. It's amazing how much 'spare' time I have found for gaming over the last 12 months+ when not tied down to a single TV/device in the living room or worry about updates/graphics drivers etc.
I wonder when Google will upgrade the server hardware to allow for the latest ray tracing stuff etc.
Am still not sure how Google is making money from this, but I hope they keep it going.
Work has been nuts recently, but been able to jump into some mindless shooter straight from back to back work meetings has kept me half sane. It's amazing how much 'spare' time I have found for gaming over the last 12 months+ when not tied down to a single TV/device in the living room or worry about updates/graphics drivers etc.
I wonder when Google will upgrade the server hardware to allow for the latest ray tracing stuff etc.
Am still not sure how Google is making money from this, but I hope they keep it going.
^The 'Quality' on the Chrome cast is 100% better than on any other device, regardless of what Google says about streaming.
Picked up Ghost Recon recently, I don't often get the chance to play it on the main TV, but when I get the chance it just looks amazing even in 1080P on a 4K OLED panel. Zero lag, zero updates etc. It does chew through data though, got about 90 minutes of gaming in on Sunday and it seem to have got through 10gig data.
Picked up Ghost Recon recently, I don't often get the chance to play it on the main TV, but when I get the chance it just looks amazing even in 1080P on a 4K OLED panel. Zero lag, zero updates etc. It does chew through data though, got about 90 minutes of gaming in on Sunday and it seem to have got through 10gig data.
Doofus said:
The tech is proven, but in that, Stadia have addressed only a part of the cold start. The problem for the next streaming service is credibility. Facebook have now decided the future is in the metaverse (even though there's not much evidence to suggest that's what users actually want), and whilst the metaverse will encompass game streaming, it's going to be very different from what the likes of Stadia offers.
The tech is fantastic, thanks to Stadia I've been able to put hours of gaming that wouldn't be possible if I was tied down to just one screen/device. The problem however is how Stadia can make money, the only game I paid 'full price' for was Cyberpunk and Stadia sent me a ChromeCast + controller so in effect the game was 'free'. GhostRecon I just completed after nearly 70hrs, I paid £12 pretty much how much it costs on other platforms. I have only ever paid for the monthly subscription twice (including this month to try/play Control).
I may not have to spend any ££££ or time on the tech to play games on any device, but am sure its costing Google £££££££ to port the games and than run the servers.
blueST said:
For me, from a business point of view they need to tip the balance so that the subscription model is more appealing than buying one off games.
Its interesting isn't it. YouTube I still pay nothing for but accept the adverts. Spotify I put up with the adverts too for year but recently conceded and now paying a Tidal subscription. Netflix/Disney won me over versus DVDs etc years ago.I have just resigned up to Pro due to the number of games on it now, I think they made a mistake letting people buy AAA titles for cheap and than running ti for 'free' essentially. The tech I have no concerns will carry on in some form, but Stadia in its current format is great for consumers but must be burning cash at a unstainable level.
Mr Whippy said:
Before you know it you’ve spent £1,000s and then one day you stop paying and lose it all.
£1000s, its barely £10s at the moment. I've only paid list price for one game and everything has been on 'sale' where the cost has barely been more than eBay 2nd hand prices but without the faffing of installs/updates.I get your comments on 'cloud' solutions but its the same risk in everything. In the last 12 months I've totally stopped local back ups of family photos. Flickr and Google is simply too easy. For music and videos most of us have already given in to the convenience of cloud solutions.
On an enterprise level the stakes/concerns are much higher but equally the complexity of maintaining a large local IT team with local servers versus something like Azure is a very real dilemma.
With Stadia I can currently play Farcry, Destiny, Hitman, F1, Assassin Creed, Cyberpunk, GhostRecon, Fifa, Control, Grid (and a few more) instantly, all updated, all without ever worrying about local storage or local system demands with save data shared between any device that can run a web browser and has internet connectivity.
The thing even works in my car.......Pandoras box has opened for cloud gaming, Google may not work out how to make money from Stadia, but someone will. The tech is sound and makes life easier for the consumers, but will inevitable mean giving technology companies more 'control'.
Personally am not worried, but I can see why there is worry about the power technology companies who run all these cloud services are gaining.
Edited by gangzoom on Saturday 5th February 19:41
Mr Whippy said:
Well good luck giving all your data and what you do online to a few big companies who don’t have your interests at heart.
My tin hat isn't on just yet ........as for data, if you have concerns about Microsoft etc not been trusted with it, games are very very very very very far down the list of data. https://digital.nhs.uk/news/2018/nhs-digital-publi...
the-norseman said:
Was hoping Stadia would get F1 Manager 22 but appears its not.
Sadly I think the user numbers and operating costs aren't making the current Stadia setup viable for Google to keep putting money in.XBox Live seems to be doing well though, I've got pretty much zero time for games but I would persume XBox Live essentially has the underlying technology?
CzechItOut said:
Alas, Stadia is being "wound down" by Google. How will I play PUBG next year?
https://blog.google/products/stadia/message-on-sta...
Shame, the tech works really well, I better finish the Cyberpunk play through.https://blog.google/products/stadia/message-on-sta...
Do I read correctly they are refunding ALL game purchases too? So essentially everything anyone spend ok the store Will be refunded except for the Pro subscriptions?
I hate to think how much $$$$$$$ Google have spent perfecting this technology only not to be able to commercialise it.
Xbox live is suppose to be quite good now isn't it?
the-norseman said:
Shame that, I enjoyed being able to play it anywhere.
Looks like I'm gonna have to fork out for a console now.
Not necessarily, sadly its been clear Google haven't been able to make $$$ out of Stadia. Recently I downloaded Geforce Now and linked into my very old Steam account and had a bash at Left 4 Dead. Looks like I'm gonna have to fork out for a console now.
Just tries Destiny 2 over WiFi on the phone.....and you know what, it runs as well as Stadia. The login/load times are longer but game play us fab.
It's more expensive than Stadia £8/month versus free, but that's probably a good thing given Stadia was essentially a money pit for Google.
The only game I would want the saves to copy over is Cyberpunk. I also see Steam did a sale on Cyberpunk. Will wait for the next Steam sale to buy it, and if Google do refund me the £120 or so I've spent in total buying games on Stadia + the controller, happy days.
I guess that last bit is why Stadia couldn't carry on, running the hardware + software license needed for the tech cannot be cheap. I've completed Ghost Recon, Far Fry 5, F1 2020, AC Odyssey and put another 40hr into Cyberpunk so far so the cost of two/three Xbox games.
dapprman said:
Does it support the cloud save functionality in 1,6 ? If so better set that so at the worse you can buy the game on another platform further down the line and carry on.
Thanks for the tip. Incredibly easy to activate cross save it seem. Hit R1 on a save file to get a link code to the developer website. Seems to work for Destiny 2 aswell.
Also appears you can download your whole Stadia save account, and manually move save files. Takeout.google.com
So only question left now is Xbox/PS play or GeForce now. Given only one of those services currently offer Cyberpunk via streaming it'll have to be GeForce now. Looks like getting a Navidia shield will let me run the game on the TV as well.
Will miss Stadia, but online streaming seems to be alive and well though. Just have to accept I'll have to put my hands in my pocket for the £8/month
.Couldn't resist, Cyberpunk is £25 onsale on GOG (assuming Google will refund me the £49 I paid for Stadia version of the game), and the free version of GeForce had no wait time just.....2 versions of Cyberpunk running at the same time off a smartphone, technology is amazing these days.
Sadly despite saying 'cloud save', Stadia doesn't do it. But I do now have the sav.dat file so it's a case of working how/if its possible to manually upload to GOG/Geforce now
.Sadly despite saying 'cloud save', Stadia doesn't do it. But I do now have the sav.dat file so it's a case of working how/if its possible to manually upload to GOG/Geforce now
ch37 said:
Gotta say I'm pretty pleased about 'investing' in Stadia now, a couple of years of use at no cost whatsoever, and a free Chromecast which we use every single day to watch telly!
I bought a few games and they worked amazingly well on my laptop, so to get full refunds AND full use until January is pretty cool.
The 'value' offered by Stadia was mad for us 'casual' gamers, I've had an enforced day off work, so couldn't resist trying out the Raytracing enabled version of GeForce Now. It works very well, plays as good as Stadia but you do need a library of logins for Steam/EA/UbiSoft etc.I bought a few games and they worked amazingly well on my laptop, so to get full refunds AND full use until January is pretty cool.
This is the graphics difference between 'free' Stadia streaming versus £7.5/month from Nvidia. The extra shadow effects am not sure am that bothered about.
The one very clear difference to Stadia is the game library, this is good (and bad). NFS was 'free' on Origins store, and than paid £8.50 for something that reminded me of being 13 again playing X-Wing vs Tie fighter on the Mac (one of the few 'good' PC games that got ported to Apple back in the day).
Stadia may be dead, but online streaming of AAA games, this is the way forwards. Keeping an eye on MechWarrior 5 and Warhammer Total War price in Steam, when they go on sale, am nabbing both of those titles, why no when there is no worries any install/hard drive stage and its playable on pretty much any device.
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