Google’s Stadia, touted as a revolution for gamers everywhere, may be anything but
Google Stadia's controller wirelessly controlling the game on a tablet
Trying to fight a particularly ornery orc out owning you on the battlefield in a graphically intense area and your FPS drops to the single digits? Well, you might not have the best hardware for the job and that's ok, many people out there do not have what might be considered a gaming quality PC, nor the money to really invest in one. Google thinks it has a solution to that problem.
Google Stadia is a game streaming service competing with other such offerings like Sony's Playstation Now. The name Stadia is the Latin plural for the word stadium and is meant to invoke the image of a collection of entertainment in which the viewer can take a passive or interactive interest. The revolutionary aspect of Google's Stadia is that it can run on any device that can run Google Chrome and has a sufficiently robust internet connection.
The stadium may not be as structurally sound as Google would like it to be
Stadia will work on any device with the required specs
Although Stadia has some well-reviewed games on offer like Red Dead Redemption 2, Octopath Traveler, and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey the system has some issues with consistent delivery. According to the review site Metacritic, it lacks any extremely positive reviews. Many reviewers remark that for those who already have a dedicated gaming console the service seems redundant and that the performance is often inconsistent across devices. The price is also a turn-off considering one has to buy one’s desired game from the service as well as pay a monthly $10 fee for the privilege. Lower-income gamers often do not have the internet speeds required to stream games in HD and so the current state of high-speed internet adoption in America also contributes to the Stadia’s niche status.
Strauss Zelnick remarks on the business aspects of Stadia at the Bernstein Annual Strategic Decisions Conference
CEO of Take-Two Interactive Strauss Zelnick
Take-Two Interactive is the parent company of Rockstar Games known most prominently for the Grand Theft Auto series. In the past, Zelnick has been optimistic for Stadia’s future expressing positivity on being able to play a game “...without a box in between…”. At the conference, Zelnick commented on how he believes that there was some overpromising on Google’s part and that the audience for streaming just isn’t there.
In a way, the Stadia’s problems echo the launch and ultimate failure of the Ouya. One must be aware of one’s audience, and gamers, by and large, are willing to shell out the money for a high-end console but only if it has great games to support it. The Ouya was a cheaper console, sure, but it only gave a platform to indie games, catered to that niche of gamers, and thus, did not attract the kind of audience Ouya Inc. thought it would. There just weren’t enough people who cared. This is the same issue the Stadia faces by trying to target an audience that just doesn’t have the numbers to support the idea.
Hope in the dream of “boxless” streaming and of Stadia’s place in it springs eternal
No boxes, no wires besides a power cord, nothing but an internet connection and a Stadia controller
Though Zelnick lambasted the business model and audience targeting of Google’s Stadia he also mentioned the hope he has for the future of streaming services. In the same conference, Zelnick says he remains excited about streaming technology and that he would love to be wrong about his pessimistic assessment. Zelnick further remarks that his company’s support of the service will continue for the foreseeable future as long as the business model makes sense.
