Google Stadia, will it change how we play games forever?

[rafark]

Can't really imagine the monster of datacenter required for this...

 

[ExperimentalSEO]

That conclusion is wrong.
The whole econemy will be moving from 2020 from b2c to b2s which means business to subscripton.It means you won't even buy your furniture in ikea anymore but sign a subscription for a plan which allows you to change your furniture x years.
Big changes are coming......
Its weired BHW is not talking about it to prepare the new possibilities.

Most people are not going to give up ownership of things just to switch to a subscription.

 

[Stavro]

That conclusion is wrong.
The whole econemy will be moving from 2020 from b2c to b2s which means business to subscripton.It means you won't even buy your furniture in ikea anymore but sign a subscription for a plan which allows you to change your furniture x years.

That business model already exists, it's called "Rent-A-Center". The fact that it's most often found in run-down shopping centers in the seedy parts of town should give you an idea of its popularity.

I'm sure the subscription model will become popular in certain niches, mostly software and electronics, but I seriously doubt anyone is going to toss out their hundred year old furniture and replace it with padded cardboard that they don't even own.

 

[umerjutt00]

Wow that's pretty impressive move by Google. The only problem I see is with the internet. What type of speed are we talking about?

 

[trollini]

It will end piracy forever, that is going to be the real desl

 

[VeeGeeN]

It will end privacy forever, that is going to be the real desl

FTFY. New set of information that they can serve ads, interests and trends in trade for free games. You play a basketball game? Sick. Look at this Lebron James jersey for only $99 from fakesportsoutlet.tk

 

[ExperimentalSEO]

Game IP's that are owned by Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo will never show up on the service. I doubt that Take-Two will have any of their most valuable game series on their as well. They make too much money from selling games on consoles. It's going to most likely end up with just a few AAA games and the rest will be indie and simple games.

 

[Deleted member 923340]

There are two types of people.

1)

It won't make gaming PC's obsolete, as there is much more you can do with actually owning a game and having a powerful computer.

2)

Such as?

Physically owning games is overrated, just look at Steam. But it's true for pretty much any content: music, books, movies. Who buys audio CDs nowadays? There are still audio CDs, you can buy them if you want, but there aren't a too big demand for them anymore. They were replaced by online music streaming services.

The catch is that - thanks to this service by Google - you don't have to buy a gaming PC or console anymore, if you want to play with hardware-intensive games and you don't have to keep upgrading your hardware regularly. But it's not just that you don't have to buy a gaming PC, you don't have to buy a PC at all. It's enough, if you have a smart phone or a tablet or a TV. That's thousands of dollars you don't have to spend. Not talking about the fact, that many people can't afford to pay for a gaming rig and have zero chance to play with the latest games now. This will cease to exist as a factor. A whole new market will open up, an enormous one.
For work in the vast majority of cases you don't need such powerful hardware what is required for resource-intensive games. Owning a gaming PC for usual work stuff is an overkill. Unless you do video editing or graphic design, a powerful graphic card is not needed at all. Processor maybe, graphic card, nope.

To play games via Stadia, you'll need something with a screen (which can be as simple as a modern TV with internet access), a controller, a good enough internet connection and you're good to go. You don't have to download and install the game or insert any media anywhere, you hit "Play Now" and it plays. It plays on your phone, computer, TV, tablet. You can play on your tablet, your buddy can play on his TV and you play with each other or against each other using these different devices. It's something very powerful.

The internet connection would be a bottle neck for many at present stage as a poster mentioned it above, but there are developments in that area too. The transition won't be too sudden obviously, but it's inevitable and coming pretty much how "Winter is Coming" in GoT. lol Not a coincidence that all the big players and even smaller ones are pushing their own version hard recently. Every each and one of them see the opportunity and want to grab it by the balls.

--------------------

I am a type 1 person.
But I like people of type 2.

 

[HoNeYBiRD]

Streaming is more anti-consumer than digital products, as it takes control away from you. If gaming goes to streaming, the streaming companies can ban you if they don't like that you made some kind of offensive joke or because of your personal beliefs. Google already does that with Youtube and the Play Store, they probably will do it with Stadia as well.

That might be true, but do you see any decline in Youtube or Play Store usage in relation to that or even just generally? We talk about upcoming trends here, how the big picture will look like in the upcoming years, it's not really about some bans here and there or the hurt feelings of a non-significant, sometimes vocal minority of their users.

It's just a different market, just like the $12k Nissans haven't yet driven BMW out of the market.

For sure, but the user experience of a basic car and a sports car can be very different. While both bring you from point A to point B, the experience can be majorly different. It's true, it's not the same market for more than one reason, one of the main ones is the price point. But oldschool gaming and cloud gaming gives you roughly the same experience (if you look at strictly the gameplay, the important part and not the features), that's why i think, the target audience of cloud gaming includes OG gamers and then some.

Cloud gaming is not a different market, at least not how i look at it. It's an expanded version of the same market, which includes the oldschool market (aka gaming rig and console owners) and all the new comers, people who were unable to participate in the oldschool market, because they didn't have the required funds, simply didn't want to or just weren't born, when the oldschool market was the only way.

How old are people when they play most? It's definitely before their thirties. The younger crowd for sure prefer Steam over owning physical game discs for some time now. Many notebooks don't even come with optical drive anymore. It won't take too long until oldschool gamers become a rarity just to go extinct.

Most people are not going to give up ownership of things just to switch to a subscription.

They don't? They already did in the music, movie or gaming sector. As Stavro said it above, it's niche specific. And the gaming niche is exactly one of those niches, where many people already moved from physically owning something to online downloading and streaming, which is just a step away from going cloud. It seems to me only a logical step to switch to something cheaper, more convenient with additional features, while the most important benefits stay.

Not having a big demand for them is actually a good thing. That means eventually people are going to want the nostalgic factor. Essentially bumping the market in the future. The people who cherrished their favourite authors, movies and music will want the physical resemblence to resonate that feeling. This is pretty much highlighted with the Vinyl market apparently increasing in sales year by year.

But for aesthetically pleasing lifestyle purposes and the hobby factor people will still pay for decent rigs and custom table builds. Google have only opened a new market for the poorer demographic of the world who can't afford them.

They've basically opened up new markets for all of us from website owners, streamers, creators, Indie developers who can't create for Xbox or Playstation to the giants of the gaming industry. It's what Google does.

The PC market is already on the decline, cloud gaming won't help on it for sure. A whole generation is growing up without the need of owning a PC, not a gaming PC, but any PC. They won't even feel nostalgic about it, because they didn't have the experience of owning a PC in the first place. Everything goes or more like already went mobile. Just look at your website stats.

A nostalgic or hobby factor will always be there and it is nice and all, but that alone can't feed an industry as big as the music industry for instance, if we stay with a living example. Performers can't live off of the sales of their audio CDs/tapes for a while now, let alone vinyl sales, the nostalgic or hobby factor don't pay their bills. Mostly they live off of their Youtube earnings, online music streaming, influencer posts on social media sites and live performances. This is a serious shift in their earning portfolio.

Google opened up a new market, a big one, yes, but at the same time they're coming for the old market too.

Game IP's that are owned by Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo will never show up on the service. I doubt that Take-Two will have any of their most valuable game series on their as well. They make too much money from selling games on consoles. It's going to most likely end up with just a few AAA games and the rest will be indie and simple games.

For now Google announced Doom Eternal, but they created their own gaming studio led by a former EA and Ubisoft exec, which shows that they take this seriously. It's an early stage, i wouldn't worry about the titles just yet.
Microsoft too introduced its own cloud gaming service, Sony already has it and they are about to expand beyond just console (Android, iOS too), Nintendo is running its cloud in Japan, but they aren't really a big player. From how things look now, the gaming industry is moving into the cloud. It's not about Google alone, but they have the best chance to lead the way with their vast resources, reach (Youtube) and minimalistic hardware approach.

Wow that's pretty impressive move by Google. The only problem I see is with the internet. What type of speed are we talking about?

"Added info from Google spokesperson that Stadia will require “approximately” 25Mbps download speeds to deliver 4K, 60fps streaming. More specifically, the Project Stream beta could do 1080p 60fps on a 25Mbps connection, and Google says recent improvements mean 4K 60fps will need “approximately the same bandwidth requirements” at launch."

It doesn't seem to be out of reach, it's available in many places even now.

 

[VeeGeeN]

So 5G is going to prop up the whole streaming industry? Because there is no fucking way that people can stream 4K games in most countries.
The US average wired connection is 25mbps right now. So the most of the internet capacity available to a family of 5 will be used by one person. That can't be a realistic thing to live by. India is fueled by mobile gaming.

So does bandwidth for streaming change per *device? (edited from country)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Internet_connection_speeds

Is there any chance that there will be 5g 'gaming' sim cards on the turn? It's going to be cheaper, easier and will be more accessible in the future then wired internet.

"Added info from Google spokesperson that Stadia will require “approximately” 25Mbps download speeds to deliver 4K, 60fps streaming. More specifically, the Project Stream beta could do 1080p 60fps on a 25Mbps connection, and Google says recent improvements mean 4K 60fps will need “approximately the same bandwidth requirements” at launch."

It doesn't seem to be out of reach, it's available in many places even now.

 

[HoNeYBiRD]

So 5G is going to prop up the whole streaming industry? Because there is no fucking way that people can stream 4K games in most countries.
The US average wired connection is 25mbps right now. So the most of the internet capacity available to a family of 5 will be used by one person. That can't be a realistic thing to live by. India is fueled by mobile gaming.

So does bandwidth for streaming change per country?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Internet_connection_speeds

Is there any chance that there will be 5g 'gaming' sim cards on the turn? It's going to be cheaper, easier and will be more accessible in the future then wired internet.

Latency is a bigger issue with mobile broadband than bandwidth imho, that's something they need to solve (MS is on it already). Bandwidth will increase with time globally, not just mobile, but cable, DSL too. We aren't talking about tomorrow, but the next few years.

US is definitely not the best, when it comes to internet speed, but i assume they won't stagnate for long especially when there's an opportunity like this for the giant companies and there is money to be made.

You don't have to stream/play in 4K, especially on your phone or tablet or you won't even be able to, if your device doesn't support 4K. 4K will be the max resolution at the beginning, which doesn't mean that you can't stream in lower res, so the bandwidth consumption can drop drastically.

Nothing will happen from one day to another, it will be a slower process.

 

[3hlut]

Most people are not going to give up ownership of things just to switch to a subscription.

This statement is wrong since you don't consider the massiv monetary changes which will be coming.Crypto is the forerunner for it

 

[VeeGeeN]

Latency is a bigger issue with mobile broadband than bandwidth imho, that's something they need to solve (MS is on it already). Bandwidth will increase with time globally, not just mobile, but cable, DSL too. We aren't talking about tomorrow, but the next few years.

US is definitely not the best, when it comes to internet speed, but i assume they won't stagnate for long especially when there's an opportunity like this for the giant companies and there is money to be made.

You don't have to stream/play in 4K, especially on your phone or tablet or you won't even be able to, if your device doesn't support 4K. 4K will be the max resolution at the beginning, which doesn't mean that you can't stream in lower res, so the bandwidth consumption can drop drastically.

Nothing will happen from one day to another, it will be a slower process.

No I understand that it won't happen right away. I was wondering what the drop in bandwidth is per device and if they released that information in any press releases. I don't know all the ins and outs so I wanted other opinions. Better to be wrong and corrected then wrong forever.

 

[issorc]

Really curious about the pricing. Competitors from what I've seen yet seem to hover around 30-40 bucks a month. I'd really love to see such a service where you can rent the computer on a daily basis. Pay a few bucks, play a night with your friends and be done. As someone who does not play regularly enough to justify buying a computer or a full subscription to such a service I'd enjoy something like this.

 

[Neptune's Kiss]

Seems pretty neat to be honest. The jaded person inside me thinks "what kind of new data can they collect from this that they don't already have." But this won't stop me or many others from building their own shit and tinkering with it since that's part of the fun

 

[Stavro]

For sure, but the user experience of a basic car and a sports car can be very different. While both bring you from point A to point B, the experience can be majorly different. It's true, it's not the same market for more than one reason, one of the main ones is the price point. But oldschool gaming and cloud gaming gives you roughly the same experience (if you look at strictly the gameplay, the important part and not the features), that's why i think, the target audience of cloud gaming includes OG gamers and then some.

Cloud gaming has been around for close to a decade, and so far the experience has been sub-par. I'm sure it's acceptable for many, but the input lag is very noticable, and sometimes game-breaking.

Besides the quality issues, a lot of ISPs now have bandwidth caps. My own ISP has a cap of 1TB, and my average monthly usage comes close to that cap every month. With an extra stream of 10GB per hour, per user, that would limit my family (three gamers) to no more than ten minutes of gaming per day per person.

 

[ExperimentalSEO]

So 5G is going to prop up the whole streaming industry? Because there is no fucking way that people can stream 4K games in most countries.
The US average wired connection is 25mbps right now. So the most of the internet capacity available to a family of 5 will be used by one person. That can't be a realistic thing to live by. India is fueled by mobile gaming.

So does bandwidth for streaming change per *device? (edited from country)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Internet_connection_speeds

Is there any chance that there will be 5g 'gaming' sim cards on the turn? It's going to be cheaper, easier and will be more accessible in the future then wired internet.

In urban and suburban areas in the U.S., the speeds have been higher than 25Mbps for years.

 

[1Enigma]

There are two types of people.

1)


2)

--------------------

I am a type 1 person.
But I like people of type 2.

I'm person 2. Now others are going to follow it not new Google has the Advertising to make it known. I believe it will put a dent in the console business.

 

[1Enigma]

Cloud gaming has been around for close to a decade,

They found some way to get cheap hosting. They charge the Adverage Joe well over a $1000 in hosting to do this.

 

[HoNeYBiRD]

Cloud gaming has been around for close to a decade, and so far the experience has been sub-par. I'm sure it's acceptable for many, but the input lag is very noticable, and sometimes game-breaking.

Besides the quality issues, a lot of ISPs now have bandwidth caps. My own ISP has a cap of 1TB, and my average monthly usage comes close to that cap every month. With an extra stream of 10GB per hour, per user, that would limit my family (three gamers) to no more than ten minutes of gaming per day per person.

"So far" is the keyword. You can't really compare the upcoming services with those services. These new services will be done by the big internet giants and not by some company no-one heard of before, which simply doesn't have the resources to make something like this work.

What Google is planning to do is not something what existed before, it's not simple cloud gaming. It's hooked with Youtube, it's fully cross-platform (cross-platform multiplayer and save games) and there won't be any need for traditional gaming hardware anymore in their version. You start playing a game on your TV at your home, you can continue playing with it on your tablet or phone while you commute to work, when you're back at home, you can continue on your TV or PC. As a part of Stadia, there will be things like State Share and Crowd Play with its lobby system (explained in the Verge article).

Bandwidth caps depend on the ISPs of course and your whereabouts. I see the direct opposite of what you see though. More and more ISPs offer unlimited plans at an affordable price at least when it comes to mobile broadband, with cable and DSL i don't see any change, those are mostly unmetered, where i live.
I use a 4G connection at the moment (100 Mbit/s download, 50 Mbit/s upload) for $25/month. For less than double the price i could get an unmetered 2 Gbit/s connection. It's available for more than a year now, i just don't feel the need yet.

From the looks of it, they're already onto the lagging issue:
(1) "Microsoft says its research teams are “creating ways to combat latency” via advanced network techniques combined with video encoding and decoding. This should make game streaming viable on 4G networks, too."

(2) "While existing USB controllers will work on a laptop or PC, Google is also launching a new Stadia Controller that will power the game streaming service. It looks like a cross between an Xbox and PS4 controller, and it will work with the Stadia service by connecting directly through Wi-Fi to link it to a game session in the cloud. This will presumably help with latency and moving a game from one device to another.
To power all of this cloud streaming, Google is leveraging its global infrastructure of data centers to ensure servers are as close to players around the world as possible. That’s a key part of Stadia, as lower latency is a necessity to stream games effectively across the internet. "

This cloud gaming is definitely not that cloud gaming, which existed 10 years ago. It will be something very new and radical.

It's a multi-year journey as MS put it. There's really no point in comparing the bandwidth requirements with what we have now, because that's not what we will have a few years from now, when these new services will be able to gain momentum potentially.