Google Stadia; Everything Known So Far -

At 2019, Game Developers Conference, Google company presented an hour-long pitch where they revealed the company’s plans to reform and utterly dominate the whole gaming industry. The name of the Google’s new service is “Google Stadia” and if it is anything like the executives of Google presented it to be, it will put an end to the gaming consoles as well as the other technological generations that have been dominating the gaming industry for the past 40 years.

The promise presented with Google Stadia is to completely revolutionize the concept of as to how games are developed, bought, played and shared. Not only this, but it will also completely solve the problems related with the split-screen display as well as the platform sharing of the gaming sessions. It will allow the YouTube live streamers thus helping Google’s own new ecosystem. In short, it will transform the whole intent into a video game store.

While the tech giant has announced the service under the name Google Stadia, they still left many questions unanswered. Questions like what will be the business model or when the games will be launched or how and when will Google’s cloud-based infrastructure will be delivering the games in 4K quality?

These and many other questions along with the stance of other tech giants like Nintendo, Microsoft, Amazon, and Facebook are to be seen too.

What Google Stadia really is?

Google announced it much-anticipated step into the gaming industry with its service Stadia which plans to bring the following members of the gaming world together and form a worldwide network to create a sole data center.

Players
Developers
Streamers
Viewers

The thing what Google means by this is that by simply clicking the link of a gaming streaming video, the viewer will also be able to play the game, despite it being intense, in no longer than 5 seconds. Users will be able to play the game on their old PC, their crappy laptops, their smartphones or even on their tablets or their Smart internet connection TVs. Users will also be able to freely jump in between the different platforms and all of their performances will be saved in real time.

All of this and there is also no need for any obscure hardware, expect one controller which is also optional. This optional controller will be able to connect directly with the servers through Wi-Fi networks.

Performance of Google Stadia:

Google tested this service under the name of “Project Stream” when they offered invite-only beta service to play the Assassin’s Creed Odyssey game. The company during this beta test offered the amazing frame rate of 25 MBs per second for 1080p per second in streaming.

Phil Harrison; the VP of Google stated, “in reality, we only used 20 megabits per second”.

The improvement in the algorithm of the project means that Google plans to launch this service with a target of 4K/60 frames per second for 30 megabits per second.

When will Google Stadia be launched?

Any new announcement related to the Stadia will be made at the E3 and Google is yet to confirm its plans about the E3. As for a clearer timeline, Phil Harrison said that the news will be me in June and the service will most likely be launched in the following places.

USA
Canada
United Kingdom
Most parts of Europe

Will it be a onetime Price service or a Subscription based one?

As or the pricing plan of the Stadia, Google at the moment has refused to divulge any details. They are in conversation with their publishers as well as their partners.

The general guess is that Google will most likely take the conservative route of pricing this service like any other traditional Streaming service by being an online retailer. One other guess is that it will take a monthly subscription fee like Netflix and attach the service with Youtube TV. Still, this option seems a little unviable as it will be too costly and will not sit great with gaming companies.

One thing is for sure, that Google will be investing heavily into making the infrastructure of this service in order to overtake the gaming and streaming industry. According to Harrison’s stamen, “it is a public record that Google will be spending nearly 13 billion dollars on both infrastructure and capital expenditure. This is going to be a very important investment for the company.”

Stadia Controller:

While there is no box for Google Stadia there is still a controller also named publically as Stadia Controller. The device is officially unnamed but it will be connected through Wi-Fi. Once connected it will allow the user to stream the gameplay with the use of a specific button and as for making the developer directed help, there will be another specific button. Harrison said, if the users have already a USB controller with the HID, it will also work the same.

Games by Stadia:

This presentation was not at all about individual games. Google announced during its presentation that they have already sent their tools to over 100 companies as well as they have invited several others to join their effort of revolutionizing the gaming industry.

State Share:-

Another amazing announcement by Google was its State Share that will allow the users to do share the transferable moments of any game via encoded representations.

This feature will allow the game developers to turn the in-game moments to a discreet shareable link. These codes will be subjected to transfer like any other internet link.

Youtube and Streamers:-

Stadia’s main intent was to allow the players to play with the YouTubers live on stream by queuing up in a line. This will give birth to a new lobby where a player will wait for its turn to play with the streamer they are watching. After one user ends their match, others in line will play with the streamer.

The control as to who will play or who will not be in hands of Youtube.

Google Assistant:-

Google has not forgotten about its Google Assistant. With the press of a single button, the user will be able to tell the Google Assistant about the problem they are having. The Google Assistant will search for the problem at the specific point in a game and will guide the user to clear the issue by the most recent and effective video on the solution of the problem.

Google also plans to integrate this service with its core services. Harrison said that the Stadia will be part of your Google account and so the Gmail account will become the login for Stadia.