Stadia: The future of gaming?

Up in the cloud.

If you have been keeping up with buzz emanating from gaming studios at any point in the last couple of years, you might have heard how every large publisher wants to move towards streaming in the near future. They want to make sure they are ahead of the trend when it comes to the way people want to experience their interactive entertainment and not get left behind like so many others are. The wake of NETFLIX has resonated with many arbiters of traditional media by lighting a fire under their  collective behinds. All it takes is one upstart to overturn the balance that the entertainment cartel works so hard to keep, therefore it is within their best interest to be ahead of the curve and to lead the next evolution of their industry. But while Xbox and Sony are hard at work establishing their own game streaming infrastructure, a new challenger has entered the ring, and it's Google.

Google is no stranger to beating out the competition, currently owning both the most visited sight on the Internet and the most viewed video sharing platform on the Internet. They like to be the best at the services they offer, even if it means starving potential competition through completely legitimate marketing and business strategy. (No allegations here, Google. Please don't sue me.) However, one market they have never come up against in all their years is the video game industry, oddly. Sort of a missed opportunity considering Reuters reported that, as of May 2018, gaming was the most popular and profitable form of entertainment with a revenue of approximately $116 Billion USD. If Google didn't even attempt to get in on that action then they'd only be shooting themselves in the foot for the future. Lucky for them, they were working on something and in March of this year at GDC, Google announced their foray into the world of Video games with their brand new project: Google Stadia.

Now I may a stubborn curmudgeon who still hasn't taken the time to sit down and watch that GDC reveal for fear of the future, but I am an active watcher of MatPat, (The YouTuber who Google hired to introduce the Stadia.) so I was lucky enough to hear him describe his view on the Stadia and what it has to offer the gaming landscape. Stadia is a service that seeks to revolutionize the availability of high quality gaming by forgoing the expensive barrier-to-entry of purchasing a platform, be it console or a high performance rig. With Stadia, games will be run with Google's processing capabilities and be streamed directly to your compatible devices through the cloud. The actual process is a little more complicated then that but the end result is not requiring a high end console to play a high end video game, opening up the world of gaming to the casual audience, in theory.

During the conference, the Stadia team demonstrated the range of opportunities that this technology opens up for the consumer. First they showed off shared game states; with this feature you could be playing a game on your computer and then instantly switch to your phone and carry on playing from the same spot. Ring any bells? I'd imagine that the success of Nintendo's Switch was a huge encouragement for the team; if people flocked to the console/handheld gimmick for then, who knows how crazy they'll go for the gimmick integrated into Google's cloud. Speaking of integration, another big point that Stadia wanted to drive home was platform integration, namely integrating between gaming services and YouTube. Say that you're watching your favourite YouTuber playing through a brand new release and think 'Oh, that looks cool!', you can scroll down into the description, click on the game and be playing in seconds. No need to get the game, check system requirements, download the game, wait for loading or any of that jazz. Click and play at it's purest form. (At least that's what google would have you believe.)

Clearly Google are attempting to position themselves as the NETFLIX of gaming, shaking up the infrastructure with the convenience of the consumer at the forefront of their mind. No longer would the consumer be having to keep up with these endless console generations to stay on the forefront of gaming and developers would no longer be beholden to limiting system requirements in order to realise their products. Playing a game would be just as easy as sitting down for the night to browse your online streaming service and we'll all live in the castles in the clouds and fart rainbows. Only no, things aren't quiet that black and white when it comes to the trials and tribulations of steaming games on the go.

The reason that NETFLIX has managed to achieve the level of success and proliferation only in recent years, despite being founded in 1997, is not just due to their evolving model but also do to the evolution of infrastructure. Internet infrastructure is such an obvious fundamental that people forget to take it into account when developing their grand visions for the future, ironic as that is the fundamental that most commonly ends up biting projects like these in the bud. Who remembers when the Xbox One was originally marketed as an online only console, requiring constant access to the Internet in order to function. It was an ambitious idea, too ambitious as a matter of fact. Internet coverage was no where near as universal as it is today nor was it reliable enough to maintain a perfect connection indefinitely. Even today the concept of 'always online' is a laughable proposition that screams of a fundamental disconnect between corporate board room speak and the actual issues of everyday people. And yet that is exactly what Google Stadia demands. Constant connection to the Internet in order to stream your games, and we can only assume that a poor connection may also result in input lag. The bane of every gamer. But these issues are nothing compared to the two huge cost based issues that Google have yet to address.

The first issue is the basic cost of Internet. When video streaming was starting to become a possibility, package Internet deals were a big barrier to entry for a lot of people. Since then, packages have become more reasonable to accommodate for the burgeoning new service that Internet providers needed to cater for. However, streaming a video game versus streaming a movie is a whole other can of worms. An average modern AAA video game can take roughly up to 20 hours to complete, assuming it is a traditional single player video game that you only play through once and never again. That is the equivalent of watching roughly 10 movies straight through a streaming service. The brunt of this is felt when it comes to paying for that Internet usage. It's hard to determine specifics, but if you just look at the plan you are using and imagine inflating that with the hours you would be gaming, then you can imagine the bill that you would rack up. On the other hand, most people prefer unlimited plans, or paying for what they actually spend. In that case I point you towards the Final Fantasy 7 remake or Outer Worlds or Cyberpunk 2077 or any of the other upcoming hundred hour RPGs that would decimate your data plan if you were paying for every single second you spent in that world.

Another more direct cost of Google Stadia is for the service itself. It is hard to find any data on this, as though Google itself are embarrassed to share the specifics. What we do know is that 'Stadia Pro' will cost $9.99 a month. Standard fare for a streaming service and not too much to ask for in exchange for access to a huge library of games. Except that isn't what google is offering. Instead you'll have to buy games full price and then have to pay Google for the privilege to play the game you bought off them. Couple that with the strain that you Internet plan will suffer for running the games, and unless you start actively monitoring your playtime and strategically cutting down, you'll find that the funds you saved on buying a console is quickly being swallowed up by simply maintaining your subscription and trying to get the most out of it. Google have tried to downplay the fact that games will cost full price for them, but with the cost of convince being offset by whole other, Internet provider-based, inconveniences; it leaves the average consumer wondering: what is the point of Stadia?

That is ultimately where we find ourselves with Stadia, wondering who this service is for. On terms of brand recognition, Google already have enough proliferation to ensure that Stadia will likely be a success when it launches but in terms of staying power, Google may not have the killer app they think they do. Gamers are some of the most discerning customers that you'll find of any product, it comes from the territory of engaging in a market that is always priced at a premium. When we make a mistake it is a costly one, and so many of us like to look before we jump. Google Stadia looks like a huge gamble that will only work if everyone; consumer, Internet providers and game developers alike, all blindly jump aboard to help keep this boat aloft. If not, Google already has a veritable graveyard full of programs and hardware that they've scuttled the second the going gets tough. Does a similar fate await Stadia? I doubt it. But I also doubt that Stadia will be the game changer it sorely wants to be.

I really do hate to say it, but I think the world isn't yet ready for a gaming streaming service. I mean fundamentally we lack the infrastructure and foundations to support an endeavour like this in any meaningful way. Other gaming companies have understood the restrictions of the current climate and are seeking streaming in a much more sensible way. Xbox are trying to implement streaming from the Xbox one console, Playstation are reportedly working on something similar. Stadia are trying to supplant them first with a service that ostensibly looks the same as NETFLIX but lacks much of the casual convenience that NETFLIX boasts. If Google decide to stick with Stadia then I think it won't be long until they are forced to scale back their promises of 4k streaming and 60 fps gaming for favour of something a lot more reasonable. In the end it is a huge matter of wait-and-see, but I know that I won't be jumping in bed with Stadia until they fix the awful offer they have available, the question is: will you be?