Google Stadia | Shutting Down Jan. 2023

[queenzelda]

[Moonface]

I think for now the draw is paying $10 a month to get access to a lot of games which works out cheaper for you up front than buying all those games individually. Like, paying $10 to play Baldur's Gate 3 for a month or two is cheaper than paying $60 for it at launch. You pay cheap to play it at launch, then wait for it to pop on a sale elsewhere to actually purchase it. That's really the only advantage Stadia has going for it that can't be argued. Use it as a rental service to play new games cheap when they release then if you want to buy them, pay later when it gets put on sale.

[queenzelda]

My thought is Steam is free to download, & you can download free demo's. $10 is rediculous when there is the whole issue of lag, & having to update your wifi in order to be able to play at the high end speeds. "On the high-end, the maximal experience — 4K HDR, 60 fps and 5.1 surround sound — will require 35 Mbps. The recommended minimum is 10 Mbps, which allows for something akin to 720p 60fps and stereo audio."

Not every one get's those speeds, or can afford them. AND.. $250 (with the full year paid for) is a bit much. I can buy a pc for less, download steam & play any free games I want comparatively.

[Moonface]

$250 is if you buy the early adopter package. Otherwise it would be $120 for just subscriptions. Also (and correct me if I'm wrong here) aren't free demo's at the discretion of the publisher/developer of the respective game and not every game necessarily gets a demo? Plus, demo's are timed whereas Stadia wouldn't be, and $10 to play a $60 game is still the cheapest option on the market for any brand new AAA release. There's nothing else on the market that can offer a day one release at that price point for a full game.

[queenzelda]

$250 is if you buy the early adopter package. Otherwise it would be $120 for just subscriptions. Also (and correct me if I'm wrong here) aren't free demo's at the discretion of the publisher/developer of the respective game and not every game necessarily gets a demo? Plus, demo's are timed whereas Stadia wouldn't be, and $10 to play a $60 game is still the cheapest option on the market for any brand new AAA release. There's nothing else on the market that can offer a day one release at that price point for a full game.

Maybe you missed the boat with Xbox's gamepass eh? Cause Sea of Thieves was available to play on gamepass same day it released.

Besides, why are we even arguing over this over priced thing? There are no games exclusive to Stadia that you can't get on another console already; or used anyway. And most people know that. It's going to flop & flop hard I think.

[Moonface]

The lack of exclusives does hurt Stadia. Which is why I've said the only thing going for it (dependent on user and games) is a cheap way to get games at launch, assuming that they're not part of another program such as Xbox Game Pass, which I had completely overlooked when trying to compare Stadia to other platforms.

What also doesn't help is the lack of any free trial. Just because Google claims x speed gives y result isn't enough to make me want to fork over $10. Give me a one week trial so I can test how well it runs on my connection myself, because for all I know my ISP could decide to throttle my speeds if I spend hours on end streaming a 4K game, or I might have speed issues during peak times, or notice a slowdown when multiple people are using my internet connection.

How much Stadia flops really depends on whether there are enough people who find a use for it. Not that I intend to, but for me Stadia is the only way I could play a day one AAA release without forking over $60 for it. Sony isn't going to give me Baldur's Gate 3 for $10 on launch day, and Xbox might but 1) I don't own an Xbox and 2) it depends on the game coming to their Game Pass program, which not every AAA third party title does at launch. It only takes enough people with that outlook but also wanting to pay for Stadia to make the platform have a decent launch. Whether there are or not can't be said for certain until the numbers come out in November or Google puts out some numbers for Stadia pre-orders.

EDIT: However, PC Gamer have reported that in theory, 35mbps will get you to 1TB of data usage within 65 hours, and Comcast have a monthly cap of 1TB in most territories. If that's accurate, that's the sort of thing that would doom Stadia more than anything else. It doesn't matter what they have going for them if the ISP's are going to limit its usage.

[queenzelda]

Uhh,, actually if you want a NEW GAME you'd be buying it from Stadia & not streaming it. The games they announced are already out for PC & consoles already. So... Again, there's no reason to believe that Stadia is going to make it. Much like with OUYA which is dead 6 years later, the same fate is most likely going to happen with Stadia.

You um, also forgot about Playstation's; Playstation Now which is also a subscription service & I know you have a PS4 Moonface. ;3

[Moonface]

Uhh,, actually if you want a NEW GAME you'd be buying it from Stadia & not streaming it. The games they announced are already out for PC & consoles already. So... Again, there's no reason to believe that Stadia is going to make it. Much like with  OUYA which is dead 6 years later, the same fate is most likely going to happen with Stadia.

Ah. I was under the impression it was $10 to stream any game on Stadia, but that doesn't seem to be the case (and explains why they say purchased games remain free after your subscription ends). In that case, then my views on Stadia being cheaper were incorrect. All it would have going for it now is the play on anything feature, but I don't know if that would really be enough to entice enough people to make Stadia profitable. Thank you for making me realise I was under the wrong impression of what Stadia was offering for $10 a month.

[Dragon Lord]

Let's also not forget that if Google decided to ever pull the plug on Stadia, you'd lose all those games you purchased. Which is the same as any other digital store, but with Stadia having a pretty high chance of flopping, the threat is much greater here.

[Moonface]

I'd say it's worse if Stadia closes down. If PSN announced it was dropping dead, I could at least download all my games to keep a copy of them. If Stadia closes, there isn't no downloading happening unless any publishers choose to let owners of their games download them for free elsewhere via some sort of code, so you don't even get to obtain a digital copy you can keep.

If it was possible, I could see Sony and Xbox (especially Xbox) trying to compete with Stadia's play on anything perk by just letting you stream a game from your PS4/PS5/XBO/XB2 to something else in your own home via your own WiFi (kinda like a Steam Link/Chromecast approach) which would also use a lot less data because it isn't trying to stream a game from the internet, it's just broadcasting it elsewhere. If even one of them were to attempt it and make it work (which PS4 Remote Play apparently kinda does already) then that perk of Stadia just became a lot less worth bragging about.

[Moonface]

Well, looks like Stadia is probably going to be gone within the year I think. Google just closed down both of their internal development studios and are now only going to offer third party games on the service: https://kotaku.com/google-stadia-shuts-d...846146761/

[Dragon Lord]

Woah, who could have ever imagined that Stadia would fail miserably in competition with things like the PS4, the Nintendo Switch and Steam?

I could never have seen this coming. I am absolutely shocked and my day is completely ruined.

Get rekt Google

[Moonface]

I don't think any streaming-only service will ever see success for games. It works better as an option provided by an existing establishment, such as Xbox having XCloud and Sony having PlayStation Now. Amazon is doing something like Stadia called Luna and I can see that being a failure too whenever it turns up.

[Karo]

Honestly I really hope Stadia failing will dissuade more scummy companies coming out of the woodworks to try to get the "gaming pie". We already have some questionable marketing things we don't really need amazon and google to start offering their ideas to the game industry. XD

[Moonface]

I don't think the idea of offering games via streaming is bad in and of itself, but as I said before it works best as an option to consume content on a platform that offers the option to purchase the same content physically and/or digitally. Although, I'd say it's best done for say, PC, because someone who can't run a game due to lack of specs but has the internet speeds to stream the game could still get to play it. For a console streaming doesn't make much sense because I don't see what the benefit would be to streaming over buying.

I think the only way streaming games will take off is if Microsoft or Steam start offering it as an option to play games on PC for people who can't run the games normally.