Google Stadia instead of next gen console??
Discussion
blueST said:
It’s no wonder it struggles. It seems to get no promotion. I have numerous friends and relatives with kids who are gamers or of that age and non of them have heard of it. Is it just cheap gaming for old men like me?
There's a genuine, and well founded expectation that treaming is the future of gaming, just as we now stream tv, movies and music. Cross platform and mobile gaming are a part of that vision.Stadia had a cold-start issue and haven't got to grips with marketing. If they can't drive players to Stadia, then publishers won't get players for the games they have on Stadia, so attracting new games to the platform becomes harder and therefore driving more players to it becomes more difficult and the spiral continues.
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.
I just think the main issue is most people don't know it even exists. I also don't think what marketing they do have explains what it is very well. It's so cheap to get into,.especially when there's offers on Premier Edition with controller and Chromecast. All the additional capability a Chromecast has too. Some of the big Ubisoft titles are really cheap when they have offers on too. I don't think it would be hard to build a bigger customer base with a relaunch and small ongoing marketing effort.
moustachebandit said:
The other issue is that Google has a track record of abandoning its hardware - Might be a great product, it was just brought to market by the wrong company.
Although the point is that you don't need Google-specific hardware. You can play Stadia on a phone if you want.Google may well abandon the Stadia servers, but if they ditch the Stadia controller, it'll have little effect.
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.
gangzoom said:
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.
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.
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.
It’s all great if you don’t really care about things beyond that gaming moment.
As a ‘gamer’ I’ve lost count of the games I enjoyed just having servers turned off… you should be buying/playing the new one.
Unsupported on new OS (GOG fixed that, plus no DRM), so your box is no good.
Creeping costs? When PS and Xbox disappear, and they stop hosting their systems you won’t be able to play half of the games.
Then Google will crank up the cost.
£20 a month? £30 for a gold pass? £50?
Before you know it you’ve spent £1,000s and then one day you stop paying and lose it all.
Stadia is very interesting and having had a go perfectly good.
But I wouldn’t ever pay for it because it’s just a one-way street to being turned into a cash cow for Google’s investors.
Then all the risks of censorship or tweaking games years later because they’re now offensive.
Gaming will be healthier and better (albeit more expensive), away from Google, and away from streaming.
Anyone who’d trust FB/Google etc to look after gaming is dreaming.
And we’ve seen this with gaming people kicking back against DRM and ecosystems… ie, Ubisoft and EA etc.
Gamers (well not a good chunk of serious ones) don’t like big-corporate greed in their games.
As a ‘gamer’ I’ve lost count of the games I enjoyed just having servers turned off… you should be buying/playing the new one.
Unsupported on new OS (GOG fixed that, plus no DRM), so your box is no good.
Creeping costs? When PS and Xbox disappear, and they stop hosting their systems you won’t be able to play half of the games.
Then Google will crank up the cost.
£20 a month? £30 for a gold pass? £50?
Before you know it you’ve spent £1,000s and then one day you stop paying and lose it all.
Stadia is very interesting and having had a go perfectly good.
But I wouldn’t ever pay for it because it’s just a one-way street to being turned into a cash cow for Google’s investors.
Then all the risks of censorship or tweaking games years later because they’re now offensive.
Gaming will be healthier and better (albeit more expensive), away from Google, and away from streaming.
Anyone who’d trust FB/Google etc to look after gaming is dreaming.
And we’ve seen this with gaming people kicking back against DRM and ecosystems… ie, Ubisoft and EA etc.
Gamers (well not a good chunk of serious ones) don’t like big-corporate greed in their games.
Mr Whippy said:
It’s all great if you don’t really care about things beyond that gaming moment.
As a ‘gamer’ I’ve lost count of the games I enjoyed just having servers turned off… you should be buying/playing the new one.
Unsupported on new OS (GOG fixed that, plus no DRM), so your box is no good.
Creeping costs? When PS and Xbox disappear, and they stop hosting their systems you won’t be able to play half of the games.
Then Google will crank up the cost.
£20 a month? £30 for a gold pass? £50?
Before you know it you’ve spent £1,000s and then one day you stop paying and lose it all.
Stadia is very interesting and having had a go perfectly good.
But I wouldn’t ever pay for it because it’s just a one-way street to being turned into a cash cow for Google’s investors.
Then all the risks of censorship or tweaking games years later because they’re now offensive.
Gaming will be healthier and better (albeit more expensive), away from Google, and away from streaming.
Anyone who’d trust FB/Google etc to look after gaming is dreaming.
And we’ve seen this with gaming people kicking back against DRM and ecosystems… ie, Ubisoft and EA etc.
Gamers (well not a good chunk of serious ones) don’t like big-corporate greed in their games.
When game streaming reaches critical mass, it'll be a reliable and trustworthy as streaming tv, movies and music. There won't be any reason to keep, hiking costs.As a ‘gamer’ I’ve lost count of the games I enjoyed just having servers turned off… you should be buying/playing the new one.
Unsupported on new OS (GOG fixed that, plus no DRM), so your box is no good.
Creeping costs? When PS and Xbox disappear, and they stop hosting their systems you won’t be able to play half of the games.
Then Google will crank up the cost.
£20 a month? £30 for a gold pass? £50?
Before you know it you’ve spent £1,000s and then one day you stop paying and lose it all.
Stadia is very interesting and having had a go perfectly good.
But I wouldn’t ever pay for it because it’s just a one-way street to being turned into a cash cow for Google’s investors.
Then all the risks of censorship or tweaking games years later because they’re now offensive.
Gaming will be healthier and better (albeit more expensive), away from Google, and away from streaming.
Anyone who’d trust FB/Google etc to look after gaming is dreaming.
And we’ve seen this with gaming people kicking back against DRM and ecosystems… ie, Ubisoft and EA etc.
Gamers (well not a good chunk of serious ones) don’t like big-corporate greed in their games.
Early adopters always assume an element of risk that their chosen product won't last long-term, but despite your cyncism, greed isn't always the reason.
Who bought Betamax, Laserdisks, Mini discs and so on?
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
gangzoom said:
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.
They'll never get me. Game streaming is a great idea, but my lengthiest game sessions often happen somewhere remote with zero prospect of passable Internet where there's nothing else to do.
Authentication on a locally stored game is infuriating enough.
I also carry music and video locally too for the same reason.
My home Internet can't manage 4k YouTube, let alone anything like this.
Companies seem to think mega 5g can be picked up at the bottom of the mariana trench. The reality seems a bit different.
gangzoom said:
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
Yea it’s all very convenient, but that’s by design. Who’d give up all their freedom, ownership, and metadata, for inferior service?
I’ve been tinkering with computers since I was 4, in 1984.
Lots has got more convenient, but ultimately nothing means you have to give it all over to others.
Just going through alternative apps on prism break website shows how many decent alternatives exist for a lot of stuff…
But the best stuff, that’s had lots of money spent on it, is always the free/subsidised stuff that mines your data.
Been using my Stadia last few days to play F1 through Chromecast Google TV, yesterday I played F1 through my Linux machine though using Brave browser, and tonight while on nights gave Cyberpunk a spin through Brave. All worked as expected.
I do like the quickness of it all, unlike my Xbox that I have to wait for it to start up etc.
I do like the quickness of it all, unlike my Xbox that I have to wait for it to start up etc.
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...
bloomen said:
They'll never get me.
Game streaming is a great idea, but my lengthiest game sessions often happen somewhere remote with zero prospect of passable Internet where there's nothing else to do.
Authentication on a locally stored game is infuriating enough.
I also carry music and video locally too for the same reason.
My home Internet can't manage 4k YouTube, let alone anything like this.
Companies seem to think mega 5g can be picked up at the bottom of the mariana trench. The reality seems a bit different.
I suspect you won't have much choice. The future will consist of no physical hardware and a subscription based streaming service only. That way the likes of Sony, Ms, etc have the ultimate control; no lending games to your mates, no second hand market, no risk of piracy, the ability to revoke your license to any particular game on a whim, cancelling your membership for any perceived transgressions (say goodbye to your entire gaming library) with no available recourse.Game streaming is a great idea, but my lengthiest game sessions often happen somewhere remote with zero prospect of passable Internet where there's nothing else to do.
Authentication on a locally stored game is infuriating enough.
I also carry music and video locally too for the same reason.
My home Internet can't manage 4k YouTube, let alone anything like this.
Companies seem to think mega 5g can be picked up at the bottom of the mariana trench. The reality seems a bit different.
The way every single company is now no longer happy just selling you a product you own and they all want that recurring monthly sub out of you (and if they can extract your cash whilst providing very little, all the better) is utterly grim.
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