Google introduces Stadia, a cloud-based game streaming platform for all

[Shawn Knight]

Why it matters: After a rough start, cloud-based game streaming is really heating up. Sony and Nvidia already offer competent platforms with Amazon and Microsoft working on their own offerings. Google’s Stadia looks to be a viable contender to all of them and could introduce worthwhile features that'll have a positive influence on the entire industry.

Google at the Game Developers Conference on Tuesday announced what CEO Sundar Pichai described as the “worst-kept secret in the industry,” a cloud-based game streaming service it’s calling Stadia.

Google’s service will be able to stream games to a wide variety of devices including PCs, tablets, smartphones and televisions, all without having to wait for downloads or installs. In essence, if it has a Chrome browser and an Internet connection, it’s likely compatible with Stadia.

“Think about the way the web works,” Pichai said during the keynote. “You can easily share a link and it works seamlessly. We want games to feel that way, too. Instantly enjoyable with access for everyone.”

Google publicly tested its game-streaming concept a few months back under guise of Project Stream, an experiment in which gamers could play Assassin’s Creed Odyssey in Chrome. It was known at the time that Google was working on something big but the full scope wasn't known until now.

At launch, Stadia will support 4K HDR streaming at 60 frames per second (assuming your Internet connection is up to the task, of course). Down the road, the search giant plans to offer support for 8K resolution at a buttery smooth 120 frames per second.

This will be possible, in part, thanks to Google’s vast network of global data centers. Key to delivering a seamless experience like the one promised by Stadia is minimizing lag and Google aims to do this by running the necessary services in close proximity to end-users.

Standard USB controllers will be compatible with Stadia but if you’re looking for something a bit different, consider Google’s own gamepad. If an Xbox controller and a PlayStation 4 controller had a baby, this is what it would look like. Unique to the Stadia controller is a button to capture and share videos directly to YouTube and another to access the Google Assistant.

Stadia is set to launch later this year, initially in the US, Canada, the UK and across most of Europe. More details will be shared this summer, we’re told.

Thumbnail / lead image via James Martin, CNET

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/79267-google-introduces-stadia-cloud-based-game-streaming-platform.html

 

[Danster1616]

Another Steam box lol

 

[TomSEA]

No thanks. Another process that hinges on the quality and speed of what your ISP gives you. And of course, if there's an outage - no gaming for you.

I'll stick with hardware-based gaming.

 

[letsgoiowa]

The data caps that most of us have make this entirely non-viable. Even with a 1 TB cap, that can be sucked up within a matter of days with basic usage at this point from just my family watching Netflix on the TV. With the extremely high bandwidth/data required, this can't work for most people at all, latency aside.

 

[Bullwinkle M]

Dear Techspot,
My response was to kira setsu who it appeared did not understand who created the technology in question or what could be done with it
If your attempt was to delete kira setsu's comment, please forgive me for the misunderstanding
For the rest of you who are wondering what I am going on about, my comment "ALONE" will be repeated here for the benefit of kira setsu
If Techspot was however trying to censor "MY" comment, I'd like a FULL explanation
Thank You!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(My response to kira setsu )

I think you are missing some basic info on Game streaming technology

I created this technology on a Windows XP machine and described it in great detail as it was being created

You are free to use it however you like as the concepts cannot be Patented in any way due to the fact that it WAS created in public forums

GOOGLE, Microsoft, NVidia, Razor, Valve and everyone else are free to use my streaming methods and are simply selling game streaming as a service if you wish to buy in to that

If not, you can create your own application and game streaming service for use on "PRIVATE" as well as Public networks

You may not own the Technology or Patent it in any way, but you can provide a service like Google has in order to access your games and applications and/or provide access to others for profit

With this creation, I have made more money for more people that Microsoft could ever hope to do

You can be one of them

Bullwinkle J Moose

Fact checking is Welcomed!

 

[kevbev89]

Dear Techspot,
My response was to kira setsu who it appeared did not understand who created the technology in question or what could be done with it
If your attempt was to delete kira setsu's comment, please forgive me for the misunderstanding
For the rest of you who are wondering what I am going on about, my comment "ALONE" will be repeated here for the benefit of kira setsu
If Techspot was however trying to censor "MY" comment, I'd like a FULL explanation
Thank You!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(My response to kira setsu )

I think you are missing some basic info on Game streaming technology

I created this technology on a Windows XP machine and described it in great detail as it was being created

You are free to use it however you like as the concepts cannot be Patented in any way due to the fact that it WAS created in public forums

GOOGLE, Microsoft, NVidia, Razor, Valve and everyone else are free to use my streaming methods and are simply selling game streaming as a service if you wish to buy in to that

If not, you can create your own application and game streaming service for use on "PRIVATE" as well as Public networks

You may not own the Technology or Patent it in any way, but you can provide a service like Google has in order to access your games and applications and/or provide access to others for profit

With this creation, I have made more money for more people that Microsoft could ever hope to do

You can be one of them

Bullwinkle J Moose

Fact checking is Welcomed!

Don't feel offended. Techpost sometimes deletes your comments if you use too many all-caps.
Or their mod-bot is just horrible.

 

[loki1944]

The data caps that most of us have make this entirely non-viable. Even with a 1 TB cap, that can be sucked up within a matter of days with basic usage at this point from just my family watching Netflix on the TV. With the extremely high bandwidth/data required, this can't work for most people at all, latency aside.

Try a 50GB cap per month for $150 on for size, with an additional 25GB costing $75.

 

[Humza]

A few questions:

1. How do they plan to integrate Stadia with most publishers' cash grabbing antics of premium, deluxe, pre-order etc. versions and their feature matrices? Does Stadia fees include the standard version of the game? So I shell out another couple of dollars on top of their fees for the 'deluxe' version.

2. Will existing launchers and platforms support Stadia and risk their own purpose? Most likely Steam won't (it will compete), but what about Origin, uPlay, MS Store (with Microsoft's own soon to be unveiled gaming service)? I'd assume these launchers would work on top of Stadia.

 

[bas416]

If the game is not stored locally and data processing takes place at some 100ms back and forth to you, how it is not going to lag? Or they plan to build a data center in all major cities all around the globe?

 

[Bullwinkle M]

A few questions:

1. How do they plan to integrate Stadia with most publishers' cash grabbing antics of premium, deluxe, pre-order etc. versions and their feature matrices? Does Stadia fees include the standard version of the game? So I shell out another couple of dollars on top of their fees for the 'deluxe' version.

2. Will existing launchers and platforms support Stadia and risk their own purpose? Most likely Steam won't (it will compete), but what about Origin, uPlay, MS Store (with Microsoft's own soon to be unveiled gaming service)? I'd assume these launchers would work on top of Stadia.

Game Streaming will evolve and standardize with all publishers finally seeing the way forward as one unified Platform

Microsoft switching to the Chrome browser is a needed move in that direction

With Google supplying the infrastructure and latencies needed, NVidia and AMD supplying the newest graphics hardware, Microsoft integrating whatever is needed in the O.S., and every game publisher on the Planet finally realizing that they cannot compete alone against the Entire Tech Industry....

This is quite likely the beginnings of an efford that will span many Corporations and Game Publishers that no single Company on the Planet can compete against

They can all continue to compete against each other, wasting resources and pissing off consumers, or get serious and make everything JUST WORK!

Think of it.....
GTA7 Streaming @ 4K per eye in 3D with Full Raytracing enabled at Max Settings.............and they all want a piece of the action!

 

[ET3D]

Google got me quite excited with their Stadia keynote.

First of all, a boost to Linux and Vulkan. For a start it would limit game selection on Stadia, but with Google behind Linux gaming I can definitely see a bright future for that.

I liked the sharing, the split screen co-op, the seamless integration with walkthroughs and the ability to join youtubers (not personally interested in that, but my son is into it, and I'm sure it will enhance his enjoyment).

Lots of nice ideas there. Google is actually trying to bring something new to the table, not just creating a basic cloud gaming platform.

 

[koblongata]

In Taiwan though, a lot of the areas have fiber optics to home (1ms ping to ISP) and there are Google data centers based in Taiwan too, I really am looking forward to this service... I think Japanese and Koreans would think the same too... But yeah, I can see why Americans are more doubtful, since the telecom infrastructure is really old and vast, and Google itself gave up on investing in fiber networks in America....

 

[kevbev89]

In Taiwan though, a lot of the areas have fiber optics to home (1ms ping to ISP) and there are Google data centers based in Taiwan too, I really am looking forward to this service... I think Japanese and Koreans would think the same too... But yeah, I can see why Americans are more doubtful, since the telecom infrastructure is really old and vast, and Google itself gave up on investing in fiber networks in America....

From my understanding fiber optics aren't THAT prevalent in Taiwan. The technology is there, and GPON (Gigabyte Passive Optical Networks) have been around for a good 5+ years. But laying down the lines and devices is difficult because the optic cables are very fragile, a small bend will disrupt the data transfer.

Source: I lived and worked there for quite a while.

 

[Bullwinkle M]

In Taiwan though, a lot of the areas have fiber optics to home (1ms ping to ISP) and there are Google data centers based in Taiwan too, I really am looking forward to this service... I think Japanese and Koreans would think the same too... But yeah, I can see why Americans are more doubtful, since the telecom infrastructure is really old and vast, and Google itself gave up on investing in fiber networks in America....

No, only "some" Americans are more doubtful....
The Gamestreaming technology that Google is going to use was created by an American
Me!

Latency issues were addressed in 2014 and the fixes are only now being implemented

and Google is not the only player in this space

 

[koblongata]

From my understanding fiber optics aren't THAT prevalent in Taiwan. The technology is there, and GPON (Gigabyte Passive Optical Networks) have been around for a good 5+ years. But laying down the lines and devices is difficult because the optic cables are very fragile, a small bend will disrupt the data transfer.

Source: I lived and worked there for quite a while.

Hm, but even with ADSL to home with optic as the backbone it's about 30ms ping though.. still acceptable, since it's a small place... I don't know... I live in several places in Taipei and that's my experiences, and new buildings most likely would have optics to home as a selling point.

Great to know you have been here, where in Taiwan? There are less and less foreigners in Taiwan in the past 20 years... it's dying!

 

[bea108]

The data caps that most of us have make this entirely non-viable. Even with a 1 TB cap, that can be sucked up within a matter of days with basic usage at this point from just my family watching Netflix on the TV. With the extremely high bandwidth/data required, this can't work for most people at all, latency aside.

Absolutely. With 6 other devices in my house already getting us close to our 1tb limit I don't see this working.

 

[kevbev89]

Hm, but even with ADSL to home with optic as the backbone it's about 30ms ping though.. still acceptable, since it's a small place... I don't know... I live in several places in Taipei and that's my experiences, and new buildings most likely would have optics to home as a selling point.

Great to know you have been here, where in Taiwan? There are less and less foreigners in Taiwan in the past 20 years... it's dying!

I've been in Hsinchu and frequent to Taipei.
There have been a ton of foreigners from what I have seen when I am there. I have had friends that don't speak an ounce of Mandarin get around perfectly fine. Taipei is especially foreigner friendly. The entire tech industry is indeed stagnating, China is pulling a lot of the talent over with enticing salary offers.

 

[Xallisto]

The data caps that most of us have make this entirely non-viable. Even with a 1 TB cap, that can be sucked up within a matter of days with basic usage at this point from just my family watching Netflix on the TV. With the extremely high bandwidth/data required, this can't work for most people at all, latency aside.

Try a 50GB cap per month for $150 on for size, with an additional 25GB costing $75.

Who are u getting your net from the bloody mafia?

 

[bea108]

Who are u getting your net from the bloody mafia?

Are you from the US? Most ISP's have a data cap. Comcast has 1 tb for example and many people don't have a choice due to lack of competition.

 

[Xallisto]

Are you from the US? Most ISP's have a data cap. Comcast has 1 tb for example and many people don't have a choice due to lack of competition.

No, UK here, no cap on my net, but I have always been with the same one so I don't know about others in UK.

My ISP used to have traffic management whereby if you used a certain amount of data in a certain amount of time your net would be reduced to 25% of max, but that was scrapped some time back.

Lack of competition is pretty shitty, spoiled for choice here really.

 

[loki1944]

Who are u getting your net from the bloody mafia?

It's the best available that is fast enough to do anything, only other option is 100-200 kb/s DSL.