Topic: Google Stadia

Hardware price? Subscription price? Software price?

If Stadia is not targeting existing console owners but expects $$$ for hardware, subs and software, I'd like to know who they are targeting, because it's not just people that can't afford consoles but just happen to have fast broadband.

If you can afford fast broadband and Stadia, you can afford a console.

I was planning on buying a Chromecast Ultra around the time Stadia was announced. So for me there's not much risk involved. If it doesn't work for me I can sell on the controller and keep my new chromecast like I originally wanted. Any game that I buy that could one day eventually be taken away by Google, I wouldn't have had the chance to play it in the first place on my Switch more than likely.
I may end up switching back to Xbox at some point but I'm interested to give Stadia a go.

@Ralizah PS Now used to be streaming-only. In the past year or so they started offering the option of download-playing PS4 & PS2 games (Streaming still mandatory for PS3 since the hardware can't run it.)

Even Sony eventually figured out streaming is pretty limited in viable market...

@Galenmereth But that was just a publisher licensing dispute.....honest!

Oh, and those prices... (shakes head)

I like how people here say on one hand we don't need a switch pro because streaming is the future. Then at the same time blast Google stadia as much as possible

^^^ lol

Thankfully I don't have any data caps but for anyone that does, watch out!

https://venturebeat.com/2019/11/19/google-stadia-data-usage/a...

"Liked" by gamexplain which is a Nintendo fanboy YouTube channel

Tried it out tonight for the first time on the big screen. Runs great. In about half an hour of gameplay I got one split second stutter. Latency was not an issue. Could tell no difference compared to playing on console.
I'm loving the controller. Feels great.
Have no interest in either of the 2 included games so now I know it works its time to buy some games.

@blockfight glad it's working well for you!! Which grants have you tried thus far?

Played Samurai Showdown and NBA 2K20. Destiny was having server issues apparently (bungies fault, not Google) so couldn't test that out.
Don't have good enough internet for 4K so was running at 1080p on my 65 inch 4k TV. Looked great. My broadband rarely gets above 30mb so don't think 4k wil be an option for me.

@linq just because it's of no use to you doesn't mean it shouldn't exist. I live in a house with my wife who has no interest in games. If I have free time I play on the big screen. If she's there id prefer not to subject her to watching me play. So the ability to switch to laptop or phone it's a great alternative. That's why im such a big fan of Nintendo Switch.
There will come a time next year when games are coming out for the new systems that people will have to pay around €400 for the new console and a further €60 for the game. If I can pick it up for 60 on Stadia and no new console cost, why would I buy it on xbox or ps5? There's more then just one way of looking at this service.

Stadia is free. Subscription not required if you don't want it. Which I don't. Only cost is games. Another misunderstanding of stadia. It's not Netflix for games. If I buy a game it's mine for keeps, subscription or no subscription.

Fair enough. I can definitely see the merit in picking up an xbox or ps4 right now as those consoles come to the end of their life cycles with a huge library of games for good value.
Google are figuring this out as they go it seems and they've gotten off to a rocky start. But it's another way to play, giving gamers more options as to how they want to play. And this can't be a bad thing in the long run. Hopefully over time the service gets better and better.
What annoys me is all the hate it's getting from people who have no interest in it in the first place or from people who think it's a Netflix for games that you have to subscribe to (see commenter above) but it's not that at all.

That's fine. Just some people seem to think you lose your games if you aren't subscribed. Not true. I buy it, I keep it.
If im playing on laptop/ tablet/ phone im not too worried about 4k.
Console will always be superior. But this is a dam good alternative. More options for gamers is always a good thing.

I genuinely want to try Stadia at some point next year but honestly they pushed this thing out the door way too early

The Founder's/Premiere Edition owners are just glorified beta-testers until Google actually releases the platform with its intended features and a stronger game selection

The technology at the very least, is highly commendable. They did end up nearly perfecting what OnLive was attempting nearly a decade ago on nearly all levels but of course that varies from person to person

I stand by my original point on this, to slightly edit my first post in this thread:

For those who are interested, here's Digital Foundry's rather elaborate video review:

Published on Nov 21, 2019

Correction: The Pro streaming option consumes 20GB per hour, not per second!!

Our first look at Google Stadia concentrates on the 'Pro' subscription service and its 4K image quality, alongside the usual latency tests. Everything stacked up against Xbox One X - how does Stadia hold up? Note that while we've tried our best to preserve image quality on YouTube, Stadia footage is going through two tiers of compression here, so will look better in 'real life'.

Seems to review fairly well compared to Xbox. But not superior. After a full weekend with the service im fairly happy with how it's running. Occasional hiccups but for 99% of play time it's been great.

@blockfight I suppose that's kind of the point of most current console owners: with the new generation already on the horizon, which is going to surpass the Xbox One and PS4 by a definite land slide, would a service that can barely hold its own against the Xbox One X be sufficient? I think not. So unless they manage to massively improve upon it, it'll only ever attract people that either aren't interested in consoles (or not anymore), but still want to play games, or completely new adopters, who've never bought a console before, and simply see this as another option instead of buying a hardware box.

Mind you, I'm not saying it's a bad thing in and of itself, but it's definitely not the be all and end all that Google suggested that it was going to be. It'll be nice for a certain demographic, and it'll do its job in some ways, but for dedicated console gamers, this is never going to be a decent replacement. People looking to buy an Xbox Scarlett or PS5 aren't going to accept a service that'll only ever be decent or that'll make them fairly happy. They're looking for a clear and definite step up from the box that they now already own, so something that's only on par with current gen's best, isn't going to tick that box at all.

I've also got serious doubts about people being able to keep their games once bought. For starters, you don't have any physical media or storage device to put them on, and if and when the service will end at some point, you will have lost all "your" games forever, so it'll only ever be a glorified rental system, which is where the Netflix comparison comes from, so personally, I don't think that people who see it as such, are too far off with their comments.

Even with digital only products on the Xbox and PlayStation, there's FAR more sense of ownership and control than with what Google Stadia is offering. And with that in mind, the prices are indeed ridiculous. Especially if you consider the absolutely MASSIVE catalog of games that's already available on Xbox One through GamePass and on PlayStation through PS Now, (edit: and what people have to pay for that in comparison) so for supporters of these platforms, it's never going to be a viable alternative.

In the end, it might find its place in the market, or perhaps it's going to be a niche, or like many of Google's other "visionary" services, it's simply going to slowly fade away after a couple of years. I'm actually expecting the latter, and I've previously already predicted that the service's best before date might very well reach its end somewhere around 2022/2023, especially if they can't find enough supporters or generate enough revenue from it.

So if that's the case, then there's no guarantee that they can keep it going, because they're (obviously) not in it for barely keeping it alive, so they'll need to get a massive return on investment, seeing as they'll probably also invested heavily into getting this up and running.

If they can't recap that, then a 3 to 4 year run is more than likely all they'll be able to get out of it, before business sense takes over and they'll have to pull the plug. Google+ for example, did have a longer run, but that wasn't as expensive an investment, nor did it require so much effort to get up and running, but even that didn't last, so the chances of Google Stadia ultimately succeeding in grabbing and holding onto a piece of the video gaming market are definitely slim.

One small benefit will ultimately remain, even in that scenario, which is that you won't end up owning a useless box if the service does indeed cease to exist. And for those who bought the premium package, they at least get to keep their controller, which will more than likely also work on other PC or smart device games...