Google has successfully eliminated the game console.
New releases and deals are appearing every few weeks
UPDATE: A lot of people seem to have a problem with the headline. Let’s face it, I wanted to get your attention, but the headline is 100% accurate. Stadia has made it possible to play games like PUBG/Elder Scrolls Online/GRID etc. for free, without any hardware. Thus eliminating the game console itself from the equation. If you like the experience after the trial you pay only for the games you want to play. The service is free. The Pro service with 4K support and a library of games is $10 A month no contract. (my trial was 4 months of Pro via T-Mobile Tuesdays), I’m not claiming the console wars are over. I’m claiming that we are finally at the point where “it just works” Let’s celebrate, not fight about semantics. They eliminated the need to own a game console to play “console” games. There is no deal to promote stadia, cloud gaming, or anything else on the page. Just my opinions. Please share yours below.
2nd Update! Thanks to reader David Arenivar for pointing out that the service is 100% free without 4K support. For the price of your games, you can play as much as you like. Even better!
As Sony and Microsoft throw billions of dollars into cutting edge hardware to power a new generation of games, Google just soft launched their first game console on a web page. Let that marinate in your brain for a minute as you think about the potential cost associated with developing, manufacturing and distributing the new PS5 and XBOX Series X.
Sure we can talk about the features they promised and haven’t yet delivered. But this is the video game industry. They live on undelivered promises and bullshot images. We’ll get into some of those features in a bit, but you need to understand something. You will never own a Stadia game. You don’t hold it, you never install or update it. It’s kind of like a YouTube video. You click and you play. It’s not a bad thing mostly. You’ll never be left without a library of AAA titles wherever you go. Have you travelled with an XBOX ONE? In the past, you would need at least some kind of device with some memory or storage to install the software. The PS4 and XBOX ONE are both heavy boxes sucking power and spinning fans to keep the silicon cool. When you are ready to play a game, you’ll either download it from the internet and install it, or insert a disc that you’ll need every time you want to play.
Stadia is essentially a cloud gaming service developed and operated by Google. It is advertised to be capable of streaming video games up to 4K resolution at 60 frames per second with support for high-dynamic-range, via a high speed internet connection. It is accessible through the Google Chrome web browser on personal computers, Pixel smartphones, supported smartphones from Samsung, OnePlus, Razer and Asus, as well as Chrome OS tablets and Chromecast for TV support. With 5G (sans virus) gaining more traction in more cities, it’s not hard to imagine the benefit of playing your game at home, during your commute, and on your lunch break seamlessly via 5G/WiFi.
You don’t need to download any games for Stadia, because you’re just going to interact with a high quality, low latency video of the game playing from a data center somewhere near you. Google isn’t the first or only one to crack the code. Microsoft is already beta testing Project xCloud and Nvidia has been serving up high-end PC games the same way with GeForce Now. I wrote about my early experiences with the service and using it to play Far Cry 5. Even Sony has their own $10 a month service called PlayStation Now. They offer a combination of streamed and downloaded PS2, PS3, and PS4 titles. Are you seeing a pattern here? These services let you play, now. Immediately! No installs, no downloads, and no physical copy of the game to lose, scratch, or break. You also can’t sell or loan it to a friend when you’re done playing. So what is the reason all these services are popping up after years of being in development? The internet is getting fast, compression and streaming software is getting more efficient, and the truth is, it just works. (mostly)
This is how the games in your library appear. Just click to launch the game and play.
The biggest reason to love Stadia is its simplicity. If you have a good internet connection and a spare screen you can get started right away. If you have existing Xbox or PlayStation controllers, you can use them with Stadia. If you don’t, keyboard and mouse support is there and works surprisingly well for controlling “console” games. You are playing with the Stadia community so you won’t be playing games like PUBG against your friends on PC or the other platforms. The community as you can imagine, is growing. There are lots of reasons people give for wanting Stadia to succeed, not the least of which is the new consoles can cost $300-$600 maybe? When a game hits Stadia at the same time as a $500 console and looks as good as a $2000 PC version, Stadia will cement itself as a real contender. If it can’t convince Publishers to support the platform at least 90 days after other platforms, it will be a tough sell. Just ask Dreamcast owners what it’s like to have a great platform without the critical developer support. A little while after launch, Take-Two wanted to let shareholders know they weren’t happy with Stadia’s over promise-under deliver strategy, and weren’t shy about it.
It’s all about the games so it’s important to remind you that you are going to miss out on every PlayStation and XBOX exclusive. With the Fall launches of new hardware will come new AAA games. You won’t see those in the Stadia library. If you use Stadia as a bridge to your new console, all the games you buy are stuck in Stadia and won’t be backward compatible as they would be if you got a PS4 or PS5. You will get free upgrades for most of those titles when they come out with the new consoles during the holiday. It could be a good bridge if you plan to skip new consoles for a year and wait for that 2021 holiday price drop. Then the console are a bit cheaper and the launch titles will be discounted.
Stadia also offers deals on older titles like Microsoft and Sony
The free Pro trial I got with my T-Mobile Tuesday promotion, comes with a limited selection of games. It’s hard to miss the lack of EA/EA Sports titles just like, gasp the Dreamcast. Google announced earlier this month that EA games including "Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order" is coming this fall, "Madden NFL" and "FIFA" coming this winter. Stadia gets its own “timed exclusive” with the Minecraft on steroids game "Crayta", which will be available first and free for Stadia Pro this summer.
I chose a few shooters and a racing game to see if the latency issue is really a non-issue. I would be playing on my 2016 Macbook pro 15” with an Xbox One game pad via USB. I had recently upgraded my monitor to an LG Ultrawide, which is unfortunately not supported by Stadia yet. The games play with black bars on the side but fill the screen with a traditional monitor or TV. I opened up a Chrome browser and logged into Stadia using my Google ID. I have already ditched DirecTV/Cable TV for YouTubeTV so the idea that I was about to kick a traditional game console to the curb for another Google service definitely made me smile a little. Can this really work? You log into the Store and it’s just a bunch of game thumbnails for you to choose from. Some games are labeled PRO and cost nothing to add to your library. Simply click Collect and you’re ready to jump in and start playing.
There was a chance to buy games like Red Dead Redemption 2 and NBA2K20 for the same price that I could buy them in stores for PS4 and XBOX One. I just couldn’t bring myself to buy a full priced game for a platform that may not even be around in a year. Sure it’s Google, but they have a long list of products that have failed and disappeared. At least if I buy Red Dead Redemption for the XBOX ONE, I know it will work on XBOX Series X. Also, if you buy your games for Stadia, and your internet goes out or is just not working right, you’re not going to be able to play even a single player game. The internet is not always reliable because of a variety of factors outside you or your service providers control sometimes. This has not been a huge issue for me with YouTube TV so I am not sure it will be an issue for Stadia, but it’s something to think about if you’re not crazy about your ISP.
So how is it? Does it work? The short answer is yes, this works exactly as it should. The games start fast, look fantastic, and almost never remind me that I am not connected to an actual console. There are a few hiccups or “tearing” that happens once in a long while. Nothing that made me curse the system or the game. Just a little hiccup here and there. The Stadia software layer has controls for game capture, and communicating via mic and text chat in the various games that support it. The most annoying element of this whole experience was finding other PUBG players for a keyboard and mouse game. Other than that, I can’t think of a single reason to complain about this service seeing as it was free and is still in the very early stages of launch. If you look at this as a jumping off point, they are in great shape. The reaction from players in the STADIA reddit group is mostly positive with many people happy with their experiences. As more games are added to the systems and more partners express confidence in the platform, the community will grow.
So what about those missing features, what’s the deal? It was the familiar face of Phil Harrison at GDC that told the story of Stadia and extolled the unique features that would take advantage of YouTube. One of the most interesting features is State Share. The Stadia State Share feature will be launching at some point this Summer along with the release of Crayta. The State Share feature will be in beta at first, so although Stadia users will be able to use it, it won't be fully launched like the Stream Connect feature you can use in games like Ghost Recon Breakpoint. It's also only going to be usable with Crayta when it releases in this state.
Stadia Chromecast and Game Pad Combo for $99
Players are also still waiting for the Family Share support that allows them to share the account with friends similar to the Google Play Family Account. There is also Crowd Choice which is the ability to stream your Stadia gameplay. Pretty surprised that this isn’t implemented yet, they do own YouTube.
If you don’t have a gamepad or Chromcast you can pick up the Stadia Premiere Edition which includes a Google Chromecast UItra for streaming games to your TV and a Stadia Controller. You can also pick up any HID compliant gamepad and connect it via USB.
They are offering a 1 month trial which is more than enough time to figure out if this will work for you and your internet connection. After that, it’s $10 a month, no commitment cancel anytime. GeForce Now has a $5 a month founders membership if PC games are more your thing. Have you tried Stadia or GeForce Now? Tell us about your experience below or on the forums.
