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Topic: Google Stadia

Posts 141 to 160 of 387

blockfight

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.

Mayo for Sam. Year TBC.

ThanosReXXX

@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...

Edited on by ThanosReXXX

'The console wars are like boobs: Sony and Microsoft fight over which ones look the nicest and Nintendo's are the most fun to play with.'

Nintendo Network ID: ThanosReXX

blockfight

@ThanosReXXX Good points very well made. I definitely don't plan to use it for many games initially. I was curious more than anything and was in the market for a chromecast also.
Im a big fan of games consoles and have owned at least one in every generation since Playstation 1. I am in no way abandoning consoles. I see the current and potential flaws of stadia. But I do think it will find its market as time passes and the service improves and becomes more fleshed out. Time will tell.

Mayo for Sam. Year TBC.

ThanosReXXX

@blockfight Much like Digital Foundry, I'd be curious to find out the actual, live results, when they've finally got many thousands or more players online at the same time, because as shown with Red Dead Redemption in the Digital Foundry video, even with a good quality fiber connection in the house, you can't have other people doing other stuff online at the same time, or games start to stutter, so seeing as this was only a kind of preliminary test, I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for more Digital Foundry test videos later in Google Stadia's life cycle.

But yeah, even though I'm sticking to my own prediction for now, I do agree that only time will tell.

'The console wars are like boobs: Sony and Microsoft fight over which ones look the nicest and Nintendo's are the most fun to play with.'

Nintendo Network ID: ThanosReXX

Ninfan

How much are the games on stadia . They have a good line up. I'll buy them tomb raider games 🗿🗿🗿🗿🗿 and doom can't wait to play that...

Edited on by Ninfan

Ninfan

ThanosReXXX

@Ninfan I posted a video about the prices right here:
https://www.nintendolife.com/forums/other_gaming/google_stadi...

Basically, the prices are the same as for brand new physical games on consoles, and some come in more expensive, limited edition packages. All in all, rather expensive, for a streaming only service, on which you'll never own any of the games, so what you'll be doing is paying full retail price for the privilege to be able to play them remotely.

'The console wars are like boobs: Sony and Microsoft fight over which ones look the nicest and Nintendo's are the most fun to play with.'

Nintendo Network ID: ThanosReXX

Ninfan

ThanosReXXX wrote:

@Ninfan I posted a video about the prices right here:
https://www.nintendolife.com/forums/other_gaming/google_stadi...

Basically, the prices are the same as for brand new physical games on consoles, and some come in more expensive, limited edition packages. All in all, rather expensive, for a streaming only service, on which you'll never own any of the games, so what you'll be doing is paying full retail price for the privilege to be able to play them remotely.

@ThanosReXXX but when I pay for them and download them to a stadia there mine to keep yes/no

Ninfan

ThanosReXXX

@Ninfan Nope, that's the whole point of Google Stadia: it's not a box or a device, it's a streaming only service, so you never download anything, you play games that are running on Google's servers, so that's why a lot of people think it's so expensive, because you're paying full price for games that you'll never own.

And when the service will either end or fail, then everything you've collected over the years, will be gone forever, so you can never go back to some older games that you'd like to replay, like you are now able to do on the consoles and handhelds that you currently own.

Edited on by ThanosReXXX

'The console wars are like boobs: Sony and Microsoft fight over which ones look the nicest and Nintendo's are the most fun to play with.'

Nintendo Network ID: ThanosReXX

blockfight

@Ninfan they are yours to keep as long as Stadia remains in business basically. You don't need the subscription to play any games. Games need to be purchased and can be played as long and as often as you like.

Mayo for Sam. Year TBC.

Dezzy

The fact that it could just cut off and you'll lose everything you paid for, must be causing a lot of hesitation for people.

If you're gonna go with that business model, you really need to put a lot more energy into making sure it succeeds than Google did, otherwise you've got a negative incentive that's going to accumulate.

It's dangerous to go alone! Stay at home.

Ninfan

blockfight wrote:

@Ninfan they are yours to keep as long as Stadia remains in business basically. You don't need the subscription to play any games. Games need to be purchased and can be played as long and as often as you like.

@blockfight they really should make sure you keep the game when you buy it ( like when you buy something in nintendo e shop , when you buy it you keep it ) or stadia will never never work

Ninfan

ThanosReXXX

@Ninfan No offense, but you still seem to miss the whole point about Google Stadia offering you nothing to save your games on. It's all remote access only, so you'll never own ANYTHING. You're only granted access to the servers that the games are stored on, for as long as Google sees fit to support them, so once they decide that they don't want to do that anymore (for whatever reason), then you're basically screwed, far as "your" Google Stadia game collection will be concerned...

Edited on by ThanosReXXX

'The console wars are like boobs: Sony and Microsoft fight over which ones look the nicest and Nintendo's are the most fun to play with.'

Nintendo Network ID: ThanosReXX

Anti-Matter

@ThanosReXXX
I just wonder why does this product exist if you can't even own your games ?
Is Stadia created for peoples who will get bored after finishing one game and have no desire to keep the games after finishing the storyline?

Anti-Matter

ThanosReXXX

@Anti-Matter Well, not everyone is a collector, or likes to replay games that they've already finished, and then there's the people that don't care about owning a box that costs several hundreds of dollars, simply because it says Nintendo, Xbox or Sony on the front, so not everyone cares about, or wants a console in their home.

For those people, this could work, but it would have to be a hell of a lot cheaper than it is now. And more stable...

'The console wars are like boobs: Sony and Microsoft fight over which ones look the nicest and Nintendo's are the most fun to play with.'

Nintendo Network ID: ThanosReXX

NEStalgia

@Anti-Matter Well, considering that digital purchases exceed physical purchases, it would seem many, many people don't care about ownership, however mostly I think most (younger) people haven't really thought through the implications of "the cloud" because the inexperience of youth tells them that everything they know has always been there and therefore will always be there. They've yet to experience a major shakeup "in the cloud" on the equivalent of a "going out of business sale" in the physical world, and they don't realize it can happen.

Digital distro on PC, XBox, PC, Switch is a little different because you technically DO own the game license, and you technically DO store it locally. If you're responsible for backing up your download, and preserving your hardware you do own it for life, locally.

But Stadia's a little different. You have to buy the license for the game, but you do not get to retain it or run it locally. AND you have to pay to access the servers (there's a free access version coming that doesn't do 4k etc and may or may not be spammed by ads.)

Honestly it's just a poorly thought out service from beginning to end. Not surprising from Google though. It offers poor value at a high price and no ownership of what you pay for.

By contrast, PS Now, XCloud, nVidia GeForce Now, etc are a better value. You still own nothing, but you didn't pay for the games, just the server access. So they wear on their sleeve that they're a rental service, and for many that's a justifiable service (like going to the video store and renting games back in the day, only cheaper and more games to rent.)

Stadia runs like a rental service but charges like a digital storefront.

NEStalgia

blockfight

@Ninfan I do own it. Im not sure you're totally understanding how it works though. You don't download any game at any point. You purchase the game and can instantly play it by streaming. No installation required. No download required. And no updates ever needed. You'll always be running the most up to date version of the game.
Once you buy the game it's yours to keep. But the argument others are making (which is valid) is that if Stadia shuts down tomorrow, you'll have no access to any of your purchased games anymore.

Mayo for Sam. Year TBC.

ThanosReXXX

@blockfight No offense, but what you just described, is definitely not "owning" a product. By its own definition, owning something means having it in your possession, locally and tangibly, and having control over what you can do with it, neither of which is true in this case.

So, "yours to keep" also definitely isn't true, because it's Google that's keeping it FOR you, and who's deciding what you can or cannot do with it. That's leasing or renting. Nothing more, nothing less. You buy access rights, that's all. It's a rental house, not a bought one, and that's more than likely also what makes most people that are not impressed by it, or who are even against it entirely, feel like it isn't a worthwhile addition to the video game market.

If they'd offer the service at prices comparable to Xbox's GamePass or PlayStation's PS Now, then they might be able to grab a decent market share, but trying to offer a lesser service than those two, and having to buy (temporary) access to games for full retail price (while you can get GamePass or PS Now for a couple of bucks a month and with a far, FAR superior software library) simply isn't going to work for the majority of the existing gamer crowd.

Edited on by ThanosReXXX

'The console wars are like boobs: Sony and Microsoft fight over which ones look the nicest and Nintendo's are the most fun to play with.'

Nintendo Network ID: ThanosReXX

Toy_Link
Someone needs to sue Google for false advertising, even if it's just to give developers "freedom of how to achieve the best image quality and frame rate on Stadia," they shouldn't have been lying so close to launch about 60fps/4k.

Legal threats that have gone nowhere: 1

blockfight

@ThanosReXXX That's a fair enough arguement. It's clear you're not a fan of the system. I have my reservations too, owning games being the biggest one.
There's a lot of confusion out there too as to how this system works. Bad strategy on Google's part for that.
If you are an avid collector of games or a hoarder then this system won't be for you. But I can't remember the last time I fired up my xbox 360 to play a game I bought 7 years ago. Or my original xbox. Or my PS1. I buy a game. I play it. Im done. If I lose access to it years later when ive since forgotten about it I won't lose much sleep.

Mayo for Sam. Year TBC.

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