Google Stadia now up for pre-order, launches in November at $10/mo, requires $130 upfront

[MarkHughes]

I wonder how long it will be before it goes to the Google Graveyard.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Google_products#Discontinued_products_and_services

 

[Bubbajim]

One common misconception of the Stadia service is that it will be like Netflix — a subscription service where you have a catalog of games you can play for free. This is not the case. Users should expect to have to purchase games just as they would on Xbox Live or the PlayStation Network.

Why aren't more people talking about this bit? This seems crazy to me. Purchase hardware upfront - fine - buy games from our storefront - fine again. But ALSO pay a subscription.

I'm assuming that if you stop paying the Sub you'll lose access to the whole Stadia system, so you'd have bought (and digitally own) games from their store, but you'll lose access when you're no longer subbed. I get that Sony have PlayStation Plus and Xbox have Gold membership, but at least you can still play games you own without that monthly sub.

Unless the games themselves are discounted, this seems like price-gouging to me.

 

[Burty117]

According to the analysis, carried out during the 12 months to 29 May, the UK achieved an average speed of 18.57Mbps

So the average speed in the UK can't even achieve 1080p...

Yeah... I'm sure this will take off really well here...

There's no way people will actually fall for this surely? If it was Netflix like and you paid them £10 a month to gain access to their catalogue of games, fine. But that's not the case, you also outright purchase the games?! I feel sorry for the people who get suckered in and when this inevitably fails in a year or two's time and they lose access completely to the games they paid for in full...

 

[Puiu]

Then Google bans your account for wrongthink, you lose access to all the games you paid for and maybe, depending how their system works, your $130 Stadia controller becomes a paper weight.

The same can be said with Steam if you ever get an account wide ban.

 

[hahahanoobs]

Users should expect to have to purchase games just as they would on Xbox Live or the PlayStation Network. “We will sell these games like any other digital storefront,”

This is a deal-breaker for me.

 

[Verrm]

Ok guys, I believe that Stadia is great value for money for Google.
One would assume 10$/Mo is not a lot, but if you think about it for a second - for Google a PC/Server that will run your game is probably cheaper then 1-1,5k $. Assuming that one player would average 3h/day playing on Stadia (I believe it would be less then this) you got 8 players per machine per day (24hours). That is 80$/Mo or 960$/year for Google per machine. So basically Google will have their hardware cost returned to them in 1-1,5 years or less. Count in maintenance+software+marketing etc and in 2-3 years Google will start to get SHITTON of money out of Stadia service. Oh and if you think it is nice that they'll get 8k to gaming - I bet it'll require premium subscription for 12$ or 15$/Mo, but we'll see.
Also I believe Google will create a kind of store out of Stadia (Steam-like) and will cash in margin for sold titles. It's basically free money raining from sky for Google.

 

[hoytridge]

$130 for starter pack and $10 per month makes $370 in two years. That a cost of console.
Aaand you have to buy games as well. Where is any profit?

Dead on arrival, prove me wrong.

 

[Buhaj]

One thing I don't get: purchased games are supposed to me mine, so if I buy a game and stop paying monthly fee, I can only play 1080p/30fps?

Anyways, I'll stick with Playstation/Xbox offerings.

 

[treetops]

Chrome was/is a free download, easy to set up, that many found to offer an immediate improvement over the default browser that came with their computer (I.e., early days IE.)

Stadia will be a much tougher sell, especially at $130 up front. If the target market is folks who don't want to pay for a GPU, I'm not sure why they'd be thrilled at $130 + $10/month instead. At that rate it won't be too many months before it is more expensive than a mainstream GPU, and after accounting for lag and compression, I doubt it'll provide a better experience than one either.

You don't have to spend 129$ on that bundle. And in 2020 it's free at 1080p. 10$ a month for 4k. It probably costs more then 10$ a month to run a rig like this 24 hours a day on full load. I hope they do some bit mining on unused machines to make up the cost. It's like movie pass when it first came out, unlimited movies for 10$ a month.... people were like huh? so I'ts 10$ a ticket? no 10$ for the whole month like netflix, unlimitted movies. but do I have to use a theater across town? no you can use the amc by your house. so it's 10$ per movie? smh...

"A free Stadia Base level, coming in 2020, lets you play in high definition on your computer or Pixel smartphone – but not on your TV. ... (Google has not announced prices for games on Stadia.)'

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2019/06/06/googles-stadia-cloud-gaming-system/1350372001/

$130 for starter pack and $10 per month makes $370 in two years. That a cost of console.
Aaand you have to buy games as well. Where is any profit?

Dead on arrival, prove me wrong.

You don't have to pay 129$ dollars. In 2020 you don't have to even pay 10$ for 1080p

The original Xbox one has a gpu from 2013, equivalent to the Radeon HD 6850. That gpu currently costs 30$. It costs 10$ month to month to play online.

The newest xbox one has a gpu somewhere between a amd 580 and nvidia 980. That runs around 130$. It can barely game at 60 fps 1080p.

Stadia lets you game in 4k at 60 fps. For 10$ a month. You do not have to buy a console or gaming gpu. You do not pay for the high wattage of a console or gaming pc.

 

[Burty117]

Stadia lets you game in 4k at 60 fps. For 10$ a month. You do not have to buy a console or gaming gpu. You do not pay for the high wattage of a console or gaming pc.

No instead, you need a properly decent Internet connection which isn't capped. You lose access to your games of the service is unavailable or completely shuts down and the quality will still be lower than a native device running the game.

Also, consoles last 7ish years? PS4 launched at £400.

Lets do the math:
£400 over 84 months is £4.76 a month
PS+ is £50 a year, 7x50=350 ÷ 84 is £4.16 a month

So a PS4 from launch till 2020 would have set you back: £8.92 a month

So it'll cost less to just buy a console and not have the quality loss, Internet issues and I'll be able to keep my console and play the same games in the distant future?

 

[Christiaaan]

Zero interest.

then why reply?

 

[Dimitrios]

Someone needs to make a STAR TREK meme of, "We need more bandwidth captain!"

Wish Techspot would let us upload images from our computer.

 

[MonsterZero]

Hopefully they will sell the controller separate? I'm sure a lot of people interested already have a chromecast Ultra.

 

[treetops]

No instead, you need a properly decent Internet connection which isn't capped. You lose access to your games of the service is unavailable or completely shuts down and the quality will still be lower than a native device running the game.

Also, consoles last 7ish years? PS4 launched at £400.

Lets do the math:
£400 over 84 months is £4.76 a month
PS+ is £50 a year, 7x50=350 ÷ 84 is £4.16 a month

So a PS4 from launch till 2020 would have set you back: £8.92 a month

So it'll cost less to just buy a console and not have the quality loss, Internet issues and I'll be able to keep my console and play the same games in the distant future?

Yet you still can't play on 4k at 60 fps. The 7 year old ps4 uses the equivalent of a 30$ pc gpu. Stadia can constantly update it's hardware.

Month to month play station fee 10$ a month. (stadia might have yearly bargains idk)
3-4 hours gaming 5 days a week, say 50$ a year in electricity
Initial cost 400$

1590$ For a system that currently has a 30$ dollar gpu. If stadia existed, you would have spent 840$. An extra 130$ if you did not own a computer, key board mouse or any type of game controller. And you would currently be able to game at 4k 60 fps on a 500$+ GPU.

It's a real thinker...

p.s. Personally I plan on having internet until the day I die, so my collection will never disappear. Also electricity, water, heating, ac. But hey that's just me.

Hopefully they will sell the controller separate? I'm sure a lot of people interested already have a chromecast Ultra.

You can use an existing controller, buy it sep or use a keyboard\mouse.

Why aren't more people talking about this bit? This seems crazy to me. Purchase hardware upfront - fine - buy games from our storefront - fine again. But ALSO pay a subscription.

I'm assuming that if you stop paying the Sub you'll lose access to the whole Stadia system, so you'd have bought (and digitally own) games from their store, but you'll lose access when you're no longer subbed. I get that Sony have PlayStation Plus and Xbox have Gold membership, but at least you can still play games you own without that monthly sub.

Unless the games themselves are discounted, this seems like price-gouging to me.

Considering they have a free version at 1080p coming in 2020, I personally don't think it's a big deal.

 

[penn919]

Why aren't more people talking about this bit? This seems crazy to me. Purchase hardware upfront - fine - buy games from our storefront - fine again. But ALSO pay a subscription.

I'm assuming that if you stop paying the Sub you'll lose access to the whole Stadia system, so you'd have bought (and digitally own) games from their store, but you'll lose access when you're no longer subbed. I get that Sony have PlayStation Plus and Xbox have Gold membership, but at least you can still play games you own without that monthly sub.

Unless the games themselves are discounted, this seems like price-gouging to me.

I'm wondering the same. I'm 100% okay with live and plus services because they are optional. I've got a ps4 with no plus service because I'm not a multiplayer guy. I've opted for ps now though.

With stadia the sub is the cost of entry and then you've got to pay for the stream-only games/dlc on top of that....no thanks

 

[Nh Ph]

I was a beta tester for Google Stadia (called project stream at the time). These are just some thoughts I had.

I got to play AC Odyssey for about 3 months for free (that was pretty great), but the best part was when I was playing a game that usually would require a pretty hefty graphics card, and a nice PC too, on my potato of a laptop. I'm talking like 'gets 3 fps on pubg' kinda laptop. I could play the game at max graphics settings and all I needed was the internet. It was pretty great, I could play with 1080p (my laptop wasn't 4k) and 60fps.

The only problem, it was not constant. Yes, when my internet was good (about 30 ish mbs) it was the most beautiful game I had ever played, but if there was someone else watching a movie, playing a game, or just a random lag spike, my game would drop below 720p. I would start getting frustrated because the game would lag (pretty badly) and I could not see anything because the quality was so poor. I would have to wait until the internet boosted back up to its normal speed, and that took some time. You want to play anywhere? Well good luck because if wherever you are's internet is amazing you won't be able to play.

Stadia is good, yes. But if you plan to play 4k at 60+fps you will not only need good (by good I mean like fantastic) internet, but you will need to be prepared to dip below that. And if you are on mobile you are going to burn through your data plan. I think it is a great idea, but that chart about the speeds needed for each resolution is not exactly accurate. I personally will not be getting Stadia, I built a PC recently so I have no need for it. But even if I did not have a PC, I still would not get it. Too much relies on the consumer's internet speed, which is not very 'risky' as far as products go for Google.

 

[amstech]

Even with dedicated powerful consoles and fast internet speeds people experience, lagging, ghosting, frame dips and latency.
I like how they are making this accessible but I have many reservations.

 

[treetops]

One more exciting thing about this, local split screen gaming across all multiplayer titles. Be it free 1080p or 4k, that's something no console or pc offers. idk if they'll do it be they should.

 

[treetops]

One thing I don't get: purchased games are supposed to me mine, so if I buy a game and stop paying monthly fee, I can only play 1080p/60ps?

Anyways, I'll stick with Playstation/Xbox offerings.

60 fps, fixed that for you
"In the future, Google says that it'll allow for streaming in 8K at 120 frames-per-second."

 

[QuantumPhysics]

The answer is NO.

I'll give you nothing up front.

 

[Gypsygib]

Would be interested if purchased games came with a streamed and hardware version. Otherwise, there's no incentive for me a buy any games as I'd like the option for high Hz and the fastest response times depending on my mood.

Also, is there kb/m support? Wouldn't want to go back to playing FPS on a controller, it's a far worse experience.

 

[ChuckyDhaBeast]

Honestly, for a console gamer, I don't see what is wrong with the subscription.
They already pay for online play. (Wich is ridiculous)

10$/month is 120$ per year. That is far less than a high end radeon gpu and zen cpu build.
You get remote access to a high end pc without having to pay for it directly.
Internet is the only real negative

Let's wait for the price of the ps5 and xbox 2 and their real specs to evaluate the value of Stadia.

 

[treetops]

Would be interested if purchased games came with a streamed and hardware version. Otherwise, there's no incentive for me a buy any games as I'd like the option for high Hz and the fastest response times depending on my mood.

Also, is there kb/m support? Wouldn't want to go back to playing FPS on a controller, it's a far worse experience.

Yes you can use a kb/m, USB cord, Bluetooth, gamepad controller. Whatever you want.

 

[MSIGamer]

Lol 4K 60 FPS HDR @ 35 Mbps. That's hilarious. That content is already pushing the limits of a DisplayPort cable.
I guess only games that make heavy use of TAA, FXAA, motion blur and upscaling are allowed on Google Stadia, you can't see the difference between 1080p and 4K anyway, it's all a big blurry blob. x)

 

[treetops]

Idk why this headline says it requires 130$ down, I got the same email as everyone else....

"Stadia: What you need to know about Google's game streaming service
Google's vision for the future of gaming has been revealed.
Google has a new platform called Stadia, and rather than coming to market with another console or PC competitor, Stadia's a new service that allows you to play your favorite games on all of your devices using powerful streaming technology.

Similar to NVIDIA GeForce Now and Shadow, Stadia a platform that allows you to play video games on virtually any device thanks to streaming technology. Rather than launching a new physical console that accesses Stadia, you'll just use it on the tech you already own. This includes phones, tablets, computers, etc. At its demo during GDC, Google showed Stadia working on a Pixelbook, Pixel 3 XL, Pixel Slate, and on a TV using a Chromecast Ultra.
Stadia has its own controller that will be available in three color options.
At launch, Stadia will allow you to stream games in up to 4K quality and 60 frames-per-second. In the future, Google says that it'll allow for streaming in 8K at 120 frames-per-second. In other words, it'll be just as powerful as the Xbox One X at launch and only get better as time goes on.

How does Stadia work?

Unlike a regular subscription service like Netflix — where you pay a monthly fee and access all the content available — you'll have to buy games individually on Stadia. Google is also acting as a storefront similar to Steam, where you can pick up games that you want to play on the service.

For instance, if you're interested in The Elder Scrolls Online, you'll first have to buy the game on Stadia before you can play it. You'll likely have to shell out the same $60 that you pay for a AAA title like Elder Scrolls on Xbox or PlayStation, but the advantage here is that you don't have to invest in a console. Just buy the game and load up the service on any device — even a Chromebook, and you'll be able to play at 60fps.

What sort of internet connection do I need?

Since Stadia is entirely internet-based, you obviously need a good connection in order to play. The better your speed, the better your experience will be.



At the bare minimum, Google recommends you have speeds of 10Mbps. This will enable you to play in 720p at 60fps with stereo audio. At 20Mbps, things are amped up to 1080p, HDR, and 5.1 surround sound.

Lastly, if you want the best possible Stadia gameplay and need that crispy 4K goodness, Google recommends having a connection of at least 35Mbps.

So how much does Stadia cost?

Google has revealed two Stadia tiers: Stadia Pro and Stadia Base. The company did not specify what other tiers might become available down the road.

Both Stadia Pro and Stadia Base will have access to any games that come to the service. Their differences lie within their quality and benefits, with Stadia Pro offering higher resolution games and additional incentives to purchase it over the free version. Here's the breakdown between the two tiers:

Category Stadia Pro Stadia Base
Price $10/month$10/month$10/month$10/month $10/month Free
Resolution Up to 4K Up to 1080p
Frame rate 60fps 60fps
Sound 5.1 surround sound Stereo
Access to free games Yes No
Exclusive discounts Yes No

If you're just looking to play at 1080p, Stadia Base is a great option. But if you're looking to play on your 4K TV at 60fps, you'll want to spring for Stadia Pro. You'll also get regular free games (Destiny 2: The Collection being the first one) along with "exclusive discounts on select game purchases" with Stadia Pro.

If you find that you don't want to keep paying $10/month for the service, you can terminate it without any penalties. Any games that you purchased while a Stadia Pro subscriber will be available to you on Stadia Base without a subscription.

What is the Stadia Founder's Edition?



The Stadia Founder's Edition bundle is $129 and includes all you need to get started gaming on Stadia. You get a limited-edition Night Blue Stadia Controller, a Chromecast Ultra, and three months of Stadia Pro for free along with a three-month buddy pass for a friend.

You also get the opportunity to lock in your Stadia username early and access to the first free title released with the Stadia Pro subscription, Destiny 2: The Collection.

Stadia is designed to work with most USB or Bluetooth-enabled controllers and will be available to play on most any computers with the Chrome browser installed or on a Pixel 3 or 3a device at launch. If you own one of the latest Pixel phones, have a favored Bluetooth controller in your collection, and are pretty confident that your home set up is more than good enough to handle Stadia already, the Founder's Edition Bundle might not sound all that enticing.

However, when you consider that buying a Stadia controller and Chromecast Ultra separately would end up costing about the same as the bundle itself it's really a no-brainer. You'd also be missing out on getting your first three months of subscription costs covered along with the buddy pass you can give to a friend, and won't get early access to locking down your preferred username.

What games are coming to Stadia?

Google Stadia is coming with 31 games at launch and will be the home of Baldur's Gate 3, as well a new Tom Clancy game, Ghost Recon: Breakpoint. Each game will be available to purchase separately, but if you choose to subscribe to Stadia Pro or pick up the Founder's Edition, you will get Destiny 2: Shadowkeep for free. Here's the full list:

Assassin's Creed: Odyssey
Baldur's Gate 3
Borderlands 3
The Crew 2
Darksiders Genesis
Destiny 2
The Division 2
DOOM Eternal
Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2
The Elder Scrolls Online
Farming Simulator 19
Final Fantasy 15
Football Manager 2020
Get Packed
Ghost Recon Breakpoint
Grid
Gylt (Google Stadia exclusive)
Just Dance 2020
Metro Exodus
Mortal Kombat 11
NBA 2K
Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid
Rage 2
Samurai Showdown
Thumper
Tomb Raider Trilogy
Trials Rising
Wolfenstein: Youngblood

When can I start playing?

Stadia will be launching in 14 countries to start: U.S., Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and U.K.

Stadia Pro is going live in November, and Stadia Base will be available sometime in 2020. "

 

[Toju Mikie]

Lol 4K 60 FPS HDR @ 35 Mbps. That's hilarious. That content is already pushing the limits of a DisplayPort cable.

The bandwidth of a displayport cable is much higher. With one displayport cable, you can use 2 4K monitors and still have bandwidth remaining.