• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Stadia isn't dead?

Fat Frog

I advertised for Google Stadia
It seems that they are in the process of pivoting, as they're gradually growing the collection of "free" games for Stadia Pro subscribers.
How many games are available on Stadia so far ?
 
Last edited:

godhandiscen

There are millions of whiny 5-year olds on Earth, and I AM THEIR KING.
Google needs this venture to succeed, it could be their next YouTube. We’ll be hearing of Stadia more and more every year. Watch it becoming an stablished player in gaming space in 7 years or less; it sounds like a long time, but these are calculated bets for the future.
 
Google needs this venture to succeed, it could be their next YouTube. We’ll be hearing of Stadia more and more every year. Watch it becoming an stablished player in gaming space in 7 years or less; it sounds like a long time, but these are calculated bets for the future.

Unlikely. Problem is that Google has a known history of canceling projects. Here's a sample...
  • 2009-2010 (1 year): Google Wave
  • 2013-2018 (5 years): Google Hangouts
  • 2011-2018 (7 years): Google Plus
Given Google's history, even if they did everything right, there would be a lot of consumer resistance to buy products from a service that are deleted if that service goes away. And that assumes Google does everything right. The reason why Google has so many canceled products is that they have problems marketing and making consumer friendly ones.
 

godhandiscen

There are millions of whiny 5-year olds on Earth, and I AM THEIR KING.
Unlikely. Problem is that Google has a known history of canceling projects. Here's a sample...
  • 2009-2010 (1 year): Google Wave
  • 2013-2018 (5 years): Google Hangouts
  • 2011-2018 (7 years): Google Plus
Given Google's history, even if they did everything right, there would be a lot of consumer resistance to buy products from a service that are deleted if that service goes away. And that assumes Google does everything right. The reason why Google has so many canceled products is that they have problems marketing and making consumer friendly ones.
They have to persist on this. Their ad business is constantly being challenged by privacy legislation and YouTube competes for attention span with actual video games. If they don’t persist, they would need Waymo, GCP and their play for workspace tools to carry the ship going forward, and I doubt that alone will be enough to continue paying the bills. They need another YouTube like success and funding Stadia for a decade is an easy decision; specially when they aren’t selling hardware and all the cost of infrastructure is already subsidized by their investment in YouTube and their other content delivery businesses.

PS: I have also bought plenty of Google stock in preparation for the eventual Stadia pop, so I am biased.
 
Last edited:

Fat Frog

I advertised for Google Stadia
There are a little over 100 games now. Between 20 to 30 games are available for new Stadia Pro members to claim as a subscription benefit.
Not that bad. It also seems they have projects until 2023...
Even if they left many corpses on the battlefield, i have the feeling they are putting more ressources on Stadia than for other projects.
 
They have to persist on this. Their ad business is constantly being challenged by privacy legislation and YouTube competes for attention span with actual video games. If they don’t persist, they would need Waymo, GCP and their play for workspace tools to carry the ship going forward, and I doubt that alone will be enough to continue paying the bills. They need another YouTube like success and funding Stadia for a decade is an easy decision; specially when they aren’t selling hardware and all the cost of infrastructure is already subsidized by their investment in YouTube and their other content delivery businesses.

PS: I have also bought plenty of Google stock in preparation for the eventual Stadia pop, so I am biased.
Google said the same thing about Google+. It was an all-hands-on-deck push that was far larger than Stadia. Even with all that, it was still cancelled.

And none of what you said addresses the fact that Google now has a reputation of abandoning products and services. They've done it so much that I'd guess it'd be hard to find a potential Stadia customer who hasn't been upset by at least one Google cancellation. You are not going to see a large number of people feeling comfortable about spending money to buy games that are dependent on Google not shutting down the servers they run on.
 
Google needs this venture to succeed, it could be their next YouTube. We’ll be hearing of Stadia more and more every year. Watch it becoming an stablished player in gaming space in 7 years or less; it sounds like a long time, but these are calculated bets for the future.
They did not ACT like they needed it to succed. As was explained by third party developers, when the studios asked for sweetners in order to port their games onto Stadia, the Stadia representative made it clear there is no financial reward offered. This is not a random mistake, but of an underfunded project that is not capable of actually competing with established gaming platforms.

There should not be any reason for a Google project to be underfunded... But Stadia IS underfunded. This is not some calculated smart move, but amaturish mistakes made by people who don't know what they are doing.
 

PedanticJase

Neo Member
While nobody likes it Epic are doing a much better job of courting developers onto their platform than stadia. They’re also offering way more discounts that stadia.

Bit sad that google are being shown up by Epic. You gotta make with the money to get into the market.
 

MacReady13

Member
you have to hope that they move the medium forward, so that their competitors will be motivated to do the same.

Why? How does this move the medium forward? Why the want to give complete control over these companies to control what games we play?? Why the massive want to stream games? What is wrong with gaming today, or even of yesteryear?
 

Agent X

Member
Why? How does this move the medium forward? Why the want to give complete control over these companies to control what games we play?? Why the massive want to stream games?

Disposable entertainment.

Years ago, you could walk into an arcade, or a diner, or a pizza parlor, or even the back of the supermarket, and see machines like Space Invaders, Asteroids, Pac-Man, and Donkey Kong. You would deposit a quarter, fiddle with the controls, and have a few minutes of fun. When the game was over, that was it. You didn't get to take the game home with you. The machine didn't even spit out ticket that you could redeem for a stuffed animal. There was no "physical" reward. People did this just for a brief dose of entertainment.

If you go to the movie theater to watch a movie, at the end, the lights go on, you get out of your seat, and hopefully you had a good time. When you walk out, the attendant doesn't hand you a copy of that movie on DVD to watch again when you go home.

The same concept applies to streaming games and game subscription services. You don't get to keep the games, but as long as the games are good and the price is fair and affordable, there isn't a problem.
 

wolywood

Member
Disposable entertainment.

Years ago, you could walk into an arcade, or a diner, or a pizza parlor, or even the back of the supermarket, and see machines like Space Invaders, Asteroids, Pac-Man, and Donkey Kong. You would deposit a quarter, fiddle with the controls, and have a few minutes of fun. When the game was over, that was it. You didn't get to take the game home with you. The machine didn't even spit out ticket that you could redeem for a stuffed animal. There was no "physical" reward. People did this just for a brief dose of entertainment.

If you go to the movie theater to watch a movie, at the end, the lights go on, you get out of your seat, and hopefully you had a good time. When you walk out, the attendant doesn't hand you a copy of that movie on DVD to watch again when you go home.

The same concept applies to streaming games and game subscription services. You don't get to keep the games, but as long as the games are good and the price is fair and affordable, there isn't a problem.

Why? How does this move the medium forward? Why the want to give complete control over these companies to control what games we play?? Why the massive want to stream games? What is wrong with gaming today, or even of yesteryear?

For the same reason that music and movie/television streaming has taken off - portability and convenience. Just like with Netflix shows or Spotify tracks, I can start a Stadia game on my TV and pick up exactly where I left off on my phone, tablet or computer. And just like with Netflix shows or Spotify tracks vs. blu ray discs or music CDs, for that convenience and portability I'm sacrificing quality (though in my experience the latency issues with game streaming are waaaaay overblown).
 

MacReady13

Member
The same concept applies to streaming games and game subscription services. You don't get to keep the games, but as long as the games are good and the price is fair and affordable, there isn't a problem

I purchase movies I like on Blu Ray/4K Blu Ray once I finish watching them at the cinemas. I can't rely on streaming services to have them on there forever or even at all! This is not a good reason for streaming at all, and especially not for gaming, which is interactive and not passive. All games I want I own, and I can play them forever as I purchased them. I don't need to jump straight back into the last segment I played! I just load up my last save and go from there.

Nothing you or the other person who quoted me has shown in any meaningful way how streaming takes gaming forward. I'm sorry, but taking gaming with me has been done for over 30 years. And I much prefer to play ANY console game on a 55" screen over my 6" phone. It is a convenience, but to totally take over gaming as we know it is crap. Once streaming takes over gaming, i'm gone as well.
 

jaysius

Banned
Stadia needs to nut up and become a true "NETFLIX OF GAMING"

I tried that Fynex Ubisoft game demo, it worked OK, I would never buy a game on there, but if there was a Netflix kind of deal I'd do that.
 

Agent X

Member
I purchase movies I like on Blu Ray/4K Blu Ray once I finish watching them at the cinemas. I can't rely on streaming services to have them on there forever or even at all! This is not a good reason for streaming at all, and especially not for gaming, which is interactive and not passive. All games I want I own, and I can play them forever as I purchased them. I don't need to jump straight back into the last segment I played! I just load up my last save and go from there.

That's fine. But if you've played video games for over 30 years, surely you must have had some encounter with arcade video game cabinets. Did you avoid playing arcade games simply because you didn't "own" the game? Did you avoid movie theaters simply because you didn't gain ownership of anything tangible once the movie was finished?

I thought W wolywood made a good analogy by comparing with Netflix or Spotify. It is highly convenient to browse a list of games, select one, and begin playing within mere seconds. This isn't new, and isn't something that started with streaming. There were downloadable game services on Sega Genesis, and even as far back as Intellivision and Atari 2600.

Nothing you or the other person who quoted me has shown in any meaningful way how streaming takes gaming forward. I'm sorry, but taking gaming with me has been done for over 30 years. And I much prefer to play ANY console game on a 55" screen over my 6" phone. It is a convenience, but to totally take over gaming as we know it is crap.

You don't have to play Stadia games on a phone. You can play on your computer or TV screen.

Once streaming takes over gaming, i'm gone as well.

Don't worry, streaming is not going to fully take over gaming anytime in the foreseeable future, if ever. However, it is a nice to have the option available, just as it was nice to have the choice of playing video games in an arcade or buying video games to take home.
 

MacReady13

Member
But if you've played video games for over 30 years, surely you must have had some encounter with arcade video game cabinets. Did you avoid playing arcade games simply because you didn't "own" the game? Did you avoid movie theaters simply because you didn't gain ownership of anything tangible once the movie was finished?

Of course I played arcade games. But they were completely different to what I could play at home. They were made to expel as much money from you as they could. I also had a ColecoVision and an NES so I had videogames to play at home. I don't get what point you're trying to make with not taking arcade games home. I never wanted to do that as I had games at home! I had Super Mario Bros. I had Mega Man 3. I had Legend of Zelda. I had what I wanted at home. Arcades were a fun for short bursts. That is in NO way comparable to streaming games. No way comparable at all!
 
Google was stupid to let MS snatch Bethesda away. This would have increased the desirability of the service by orders of magnitude. Google would have had the balls to lock all franchises away on their service.

I definitely would have considered Stadia if they had all those exclusives but now? I'll just laugh at their efforts.
 

Fat Frog

I advertised for Google Stadia
I told you guys that Cyberpunk, potato PC and the lack of next gen consoles could save Stadia's ass.(maybe it won't but the right time is NOW for them)


So suddenly finding myself joining the Stadia platform with the next-gen consoles being sold out (got my hands on Series S but that won't cut it for Cyberpunk) for the holidays and my PC being rather aged.


I saw many messages like this on the Internet...
Don't think all everyone can afford a decent GPU or even buy a Series S. People are losing their Jobs.

Series S is a smart move from Microsoft but cloud gaming is a real chance for many unfortunate gamers.
 
Last edited:

Celcius

°Temp. member
Sometimes I make a joke at work "This place is quieter than a Google Stadia hype party!" :messenger_tears_of_joy:
I had completely forgotten that it exists. I never see any advertisements or commercials for it either. I'm sure it's the same for the average consumer as well.
 

Fat Frog

I advertised for Google Stadia
Sometimes I make a joke at work "This place is quieter than a Google Stadia hype party!" :messenger_tears_of_joy:
I had completely forgotten that it exists. I never see any advertisements or commercials for it either. I'm sure it's the same for the average consumer as well.
The first year was a disaster but when the library will Be large enough to really promote the upcoming YouTube click and play option, it could be a real success.

For now, only gamers know and laugh at Google.
 

20cent

Banned
I wouldn't mind trying, but they are not available in my region 1+year after launch... so I guess they don't really want to succeed.
 

DaGwaphics

Member
This isn't true at all. Stadia is free to play if you buy a game on it. There's only a monthly charge if you want to play in 4K with 5.1 surround sound.

If a person hates Stadia, they can simply ignore it. No reason to dump on it.

You new around here? :messenger_tears_of_joy:

I do think they need to move at least partially in a Luna/Gamepass direction. Create a little library that users can subscribe to and let them buy additional games a la carte if desired. I think there is a certain amount of fear regarding paying full price (higher prices than on console for most games) for a stream when you don't have a guarantee of how the service is going to work for you.
 

20cent

Banned
Where are your living ?
Hong Kong...

according to the Stadia website, they're only available in some EU countries and NA.

  • Belgium
  • Canada
  • Denmark
  • Finland
  • France
  • Germany
  • Ireland
  • Italy
  • Netherlands
  • Norway
  • Spain
  • Sweden
  • United Kingdom
  • United States
They are not really trying, not a single Asian area
 

Fat Frog

I advertised for Google Stadia
Bomberman R is usually 30 bucks with cutting edge online and broken Joy-Con on Nintendo Switch.

It's free on Stadia.


Well done, Nintendo.
You made Stadia great again...
 
Stadia is the best game streaming service I've tried but considering you still have to pay for the games, I'd just rather play locally when given the option. But I'm surprised how well it works.

I just don't know who it is really designed to appeal to, though. If you have interest in the types of games that are on Stadia it seems pretty likely that you already have a console or PC capable of playing them. So it seems the biggest use case is just for people who really want or need to be able to play anywhere, anytime they have an internet connection. I can't imagine that's a lot of people.
 
Last edited:
If you don't care about the controller, then take the GeForce now version. (Graphics will Be better at 1080p)
Buy the stadia version if you Want to play over 1080P.
Did you try the demos already ? (Stadia and GeForce now)
Ok, I tried out Immortals on Stadia and a few games on Geforce Now. Image quality on Geforce is an absolute disaster, looks worse than native 720p. However, it did warn me that my connection isn't good though I have 100 Mbit download.

Immortals looked perfectly fine at 1080p but is limited to 30 fps it seems.

I'm gonna wait for impressions on performance before I decide. My system is i5 3570, RTX 2070, 8 GB RAM.
 
Definitely not my best purchase tbh, the pricing model sucks so hard even tho the tech totally works.

Why they haven’t tried to pivot to a Netflix of games model I’ll never know.

Corporate greed and lack of will to invest their own money.

If You look at Stadia bussiness model it's like indie startup who wants to build themselves using consumer money.

If they went Neflix way they have to invest into content aqusition up front without any guaranted to get that cash back.
 

Fat Frog

I advertised for Google Stadia
Ok, I tried out Immortals on Stadia and a few games on Geforce Now. Image quality on Geforce is an absolute disaster, looks worse than native 720p. However, it did warn me that my connection isn't good though I have 100 Mbit download.

Immortals looked perfectly fine at 1080p but is limited to 30 fps it seems.

I'm gonna wait for impressions on performance before I decide. My system is i5 3570, RTX 2070, 8 GB RAM.
Yeah, if you play on TV or PC monitor 1080 streaming is garbage on all services for now.

On smartphone, it's beautiful.

I think 7/9 inches tablets could be a good in between.
 

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
Stadia has 31 games currently available in their Pro catalog. Some of these have been there forever, but since they're more like PS+ (where they are registered to your account and you have access to them as long as you are a subscriber or if you resubscribe later) Stadia is starting to get a pretty good catalog of games built up for me personally where I would have access to almost 100 games if I decided to re-subscribe. And if I were, that would add another 15 games to my account that would be playable later if I decided to resubscribe in the future. So the value certainly seems to roll forward.

Netflix of games this is not, but as someone who has subscribed for a month here and there it's starting to be more and more appealing to me.
 
Definitely not my best purchase tbh, the pricing model sucks so hard even tho the tech totally works.

Why they haven’t tried to pivot to a Netflix of games model I’ll never know.

yeah, sucks to buy the same games for the same price on other consoles and not to spend $400 on hardware to run it
 

Fat Frog

I advertised for Google Stadia
yeah, sucks to buy the same games for the same price on other consoles and not to spend $400 on hardware to run it
I think he was talking about the old model. (10 bucks + the price of the game)

But it's not relevant anymore since there is the free Stadia or the subscription + free games (I saw a lot of subscribers who almost paid 0 game and have now like 40 games or more. Next year, they'll have like 100 games so it's not that inferior to say the game pass. You have more games you can keep on Stadia and more turn over on gamepass/x cloud. It's quite different though.)
 
Last edited:

Fat Frog

I advertised for Google Stadia
Voost Kain, is that you?

Stadia should die. All streaming should die. Don't bother me with "but options" because as we have seen for the past 20 years, more "options" never means more "options".
20 years ago, PlayStation had 70% of the market, with physical games only.

Now, we have a serious battle between Sony and Nintendo (Japan being Nintendo Land), Microsoft gaining ground, we have Tencent, Mobile Games, the rise of PC (without killing the consoles), we have strong digital sales, strong retail sales, a young but promising streaming market with several opponents like Google, Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon and more to come.

Even Steam is not alone, dude. (GOG and EGS are doing well)


We have more options, period.
20 years ago, we only had broken PS2 for playing most of exclusives...

Voost Kain? Don't know that cunt :).
But yeah, I like provoking Sony Boyz and Nintendo loyalists lol.
It's video games, men... Have a deep breath and relax ;)
 

H4ze

Member
Unfortunately you can't speak about Stadia on GAF without all these hot take wanna be insiders here smh
 
20 years ago, PlayStation had 70% of the market, with physical games only.

Now, we have a serious battle between Sony and Nintendo (Japan being Nintendo Land), Microsoft gaining ground, we have Tencent, Mobile Games, the rise of PC (without killing the consoles), we have strong digital sales, strong retail sales, a young but promising streaming market with several opponents like Google, Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon and more to come.

Even Steam is not alone, dude. (GOG and EGS are doing well)


We have more options, period.
20 years ago, we only had broken PS2 for playing most of exclusives...

Voost Kain? Don't know that cunt :).
But yeah, I like provoking Sony Boyz and Nintendo loyalists lol.
It's video games, men... Have a deep breath and relax ;)
How do you know he's a cunt? The same way you know i'm a sony loyalist? whatever the fuck that is.

Streaming, just like modern multiplayer, is a ponzi scheme held up by fake revenue: microtransactions (mtx and lootboxes). Yet the corporate shills push it as if it's viable. It isnt. The only reason we see a shred of popularity is because of the 'whales' from mobile, chucking their money at everything.

If Google, Amazon et all, can't even be arsed to put their hand in their pocket to create a decent handheld streaming device (the only real selling point of streaming) then why should i bother entertaining their product? Because you said? Because a company keeps telling me how good it is? Anyone with reasoning can see it's shit.

Look at the back-peddling Google have done over the past 12 months. They aren't confident in their product or clear in their vision, they're just chucking shit at a wall and hoping it sticks.

Why?

Because when the (multiplayer) gaming bubble bursts, and it will within the next 3 years, Google et al will be able to make a clean exit from the business (shut all servers) without a loss.

Where as Sony and Nintendo can fall back on their single player pedigree.
 
Top Bottom