Is Stadia Going to Change Gaming Forever?

Author: Mario Petkovski

Google’s new cloud gaming service is made to revolutionize gaming. Imagine if you don’t have to buy expensive equipment in order to play some new game or to open your console and play whichever game you want without any downloads. For example, if you want to play a game, like Madden NFL, you will just buy at and play it instantly. It is a gamer dream come true.

How Does it Work?

The process of playing games on Stadia will be simple as opening a new tab on Google Chrome browser. You will just have to go to stadia.com and find the desired game you want to play and click it.

The game is then streamed to your device through Google’s servers. All you will ever need is an internet connection. However, Google will ask you to run some connection test before you start gaming just because the streaming requires 15Mbps rate, latency below 40ms, and data loss below 5%. If you already have this you will be ready to play.

All your inputs through your computer will be sent over to Google’s serves, processed in the game, and everything gets streamed back to you. That is why you must meet all the requirements mentioned above in order for the process to work.

In other words, you are now opening a new tab that lets you access a high-end gaming computer that streams back the visuals and audio at high quality.

What Tech Do I need?

Just because it runs on the cloud, all you will need is a stable internet connection with a minimum of 15Mbps and you are ready to go on any device. Just by running Chrome, you will be able to enjoy any game you want without updating your hardware. It seems too good to be true.

There will be available a Stadia controller, but it will not be necessary to play the games. Good old keyboard and mouse will do the job just perfectly.

On What Device I will Be able to Play?

Almost on everything! Google wants to bring gaming even closer to the users by enabling them to play any game on their desktop, laptop, tablet, TV, and phone through Chromecast Ultra. However, for some strange reason, Google is limiting the phone Stadia to only Pixel phones for the start. This is a minor drawback, but hopefully, they will agree to use the service on every phone.

According to a leak from the E3 gaming event in Los Angeles, Stadia will be released in November and it will cost $9.99 per month for 4K 60fps HDR with 5.1 sound gaming, which Google calls Stadia Pro. Even if this price is high for you, don’t worry just because Stadia will be free to play next year with basic settings on 1080p. However, you will have to buy the games separately. Your monthly subscription will bring you free games as well that will be updated every month.

Verdict

This might seem the perfect gaming scenario that every gamer dream of, however, it seems like it will be out of reach for many people as Google will only lunch the Stadia in 14 countries. It will take a while for Stadia to support the whole world.

As in the idea, it is perfect. You will no longer spend tons of money on new tech just because it doesn’t support any game. Paying a monthly subscription seems like the better option, just because you can cancel it anytime you want.

This is also a great thing for game developers making their games theft proof and avoid piracy. The official game will only exist on the main server that no one can get.

We will have to wait and see how people will accept this idea of gaming, but overall it has many up sites and we are all excited about its release.