Google premieres Stadia, an online cross-platform game streaming service

Posted:
in General Discussion edited March 2019
Google on Tuesday revealed Stadia, a new cloud-based gaming platform able to stream high-end PC games to phones, tablets, computers, and TVs.

id's
id's "Doom Eternal," one of the first Stadia games.


Players will experience minimal input lag, and load into titles within seconds through links on sites like Twitter, YouTube, and the Stadia Store, Google said. Gamers will even be able to shuttle between platforms within moments, for example jumping from a phone to a Chromebook to a TV-connected Chromecast Ultra.

While people will be able to use existing gamepads and other controllers, Google is also planning to ship the Stadia Controller, an Xbox-style gamepad with dedicated sharing and Google Assistant buttons. The accessory will connect directly to the server running a game via Wi-Fi and detect when a person switches devices.

At launch, Stadia will support graphics up to 4K resolution at 60 frames per second, sharing to YouTube in the same quality. Long-term the goal is 8K resolution and 120fps or higher, at least on the player's end.

Each Stadia server instance is expected to have far more power than an Xbox One X or PlayStation 4 Pro, thanks in part to a custom AMD graphics chip that appears to be equivalent to a AMD Vega 56. Google is moreover partnering with the creators of middleware platforms like Unity, Havok, and Unreal, the idea being that Stadia can be treated as its own development platform with cross-platform support.

Some early Stadia titles should include id Software's "Doom Eternal" and Ubisoft's "Assassin's Creed Odyssey." The latter served as a test during last year's "Project Stream" experiment.

Google is pitching Stadia as an ideal multiplayer environment, since each player connects directly to Google servers, and there are fewer limits on shared experiences -- the company used examples like destructible environments and battle royales with thousands rather than hundreds of players. It should also make local "couch" multiplayer easier to implement, and Google is promising to let people watching YouTube streams participate through "Crowd Play," simply queuing up behind others wanting to join if a streamer allows it.

Indicating the seriousness of the platform is the creation of Stadia Games and Entertainment, Google's first in-house game studio, led by veteran developer Jade Raymond.

The Stadia service should launch sometime in 2019 in the U.S., Canada, and "most" of Europe, including the U.K. It's unknown how or how much gamers will have to pay for access.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 23
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    Oh, good lord. LMAO!
    MacProwatto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 23
    boltsfan17boltsfan17 Posts: 2,294member
    The stat Google is touting as Stadia being more powerful than a PS4 Pro and One X is a bit silly. It's a streaming platform. I checked out the announcement and it was pretty funny the latency issues during the demo. I'm highly skeptical Google can keep latency as low as they are claiming. No current cloud services have 0 latency. Stadia may work fine for single player games, but no way there won't be latency issues playing a game like Battlefield V. 
    edited March 2019 MacProwatto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 23
    racerhomie3racerhomie3 Posts: 1,264member
    I want something like this to be subscription based. Hopefully they bring this to iOS,tvOS or Mac.
  • Reply 4 of 23
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    The stat Google is touting as Stadia being more powerful than a PS4 Pro and One X is a bit silly. It's a streaming platform. I checked out the announcement and it was pretty funny the latency issues during the demo. I'm highly skeptical Google can keep latency as low as they are claiming. No current cloud services have 0 latency. Stadia may work fine for single player games, but no way there won't be latency issues playing a game like Battlefield V. 
    According to Google latency won't be an issue for multiplayer. They had a segment of the presentation where that was discussed and the reasons latency won't be the problem some are expecting based on current gaming platforms. It will still be a few months before you can see for yourself if it's a problem or not. Heck, Microsoft thinks it's the way forward too and creating their own version of it.

    FWIW I didn't see the "funny latency issue" you were mentioning but the livestream is still available to look at it again.  
    edited March 2019 muthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 5 of 23
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    I want something like this to be subscription based. Hopefully they bring this to iOS,tvOS or Mac.
    The presumption would be that it is intended for iOS/Mac too based on comments during the presentation." I don't think "cross-platform" will mean just phones and tablets and computers and TV's. Those computers are running some OS. As long as you can use a recent Chrome browser I think you're OK. The computer specs and hardware are not really important.

    EDIT: Pre-production hands-on here:
    https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2019-hands-on-with-google-stream-gdc-2019
    edited March 2019 muthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 6 of 23
    maestro64maestro64 Posts: 5,043member
    Anyone want to do an over or under on how long before Google shuts it down and tell everyone involve they need to seek employment somewhere else
    edited March 2019 genovelleleavingthebiggDAalsethMacProStrangeDaysericthehalfbeedavgregwatto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 23
    seanismorrisseanismorris Posts: 1,624member
    My T-mobile/Sprint connection has difficulty keeping up with just location data on some iOS games.

    Google might have been best to wait until 5G....
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 23
    maestro64 said:
    Anyone want to do and over or under on how long before Google shuts it down and tell everyone involve they need to seek employment somewhere else
    About as long as it takes them to produce their first Google branded 1st party PC game. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 9 of 23
    EsquireCatsEsquireCats Posts: 1,268member
    It actually doesn't matter what Google shows during a presentation regarding latency, and I'd expect it that latency to be low since they would be "close" in geography and infrastructure to the server. Latency is a byproduct of the individual's (frequently unique) combination of hardware and connective network services - it's why Youtube is fast for some and not others - not because Google's Youtube servers or CDN are poor.

    People still can't understand why their battery loses charge performance over time, some can't even grasp the basics of day-to-day network traffic. So while I congratulate Google for having the courage to put out a service like this (and the demand it will create for improving network latency) it's just not something which aligns well with the target market of gamers. Especially when considering that this is a service which will enable people with lower disposable income to get involved (typically the same people who have budget internet.)
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 23
    mdriftmeyermdriftmeyer Posts: 7,503member
    Powered by AMD EPYC and Vega VII GPGPUs in the Cloud with ROCm.
  • Reply 11 of 23
    DAalsethDAalseth Posts: 2,783member
    I want something like this to be subscription based. Hopefully they bring this to iOS,tvOS or Mac.
    On Cult of Mac they are saying yes it will run on macOS/iOS. According to them it will run on anything running a Chrome browser: https://www.cultofmac.com/613308/google-stadia-cloud-gaming-service-mac-iphone-ipad/
    edited March 2019
  • Reply 12 of 23
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    Counting down to its abandonment ...
    StrangeDaysravnorodomwatto_cobra
  • Reply 13 of 23
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,834member
    Cool. What sort of privacy data do I have to sacrifice for their ad business?
    davgregwatto_cobra
  • Reply 14 of 23
    wigbywigby Posts: 692member
    It actually doesn't matter what Google shows during a presentation regarding latency, and I'd expect it that latency to be low since they would be "close" in geography and infrastructure to the server. Latency is a byproduct of the individual's (frequently unique) combination of hardware and connective network services - it's why Youtube is fast for some and not others - not because Google's Youtube servers or CDN are poor.

    People still can't understand why their battery loses charge performance over time, some can't even grasp the basics of day-to-day network traffic. So while I congratulate Google for having the courage to put out a service like this (and the demand it will create for improving network latency) it's just not something which aligns well with the target market of gamers. Especially when considering that this is a service which will enable people with lower disposable income to get involved (typically the same people who have budget internet.)
    Time of day and Internet traffic affects latency and bandwidth more than any of those things you mentioned. I have 100 mbit/sec FIOS in NYC which is great except when it's not. There are times when Youtube barely works so I check the little 'How is my connection?' and Youtube shows me that everyone happens to be on Youtube at the same moment which creates a terrible experience for all, especially someone trying to initiate a new stream.

    I'm not saying that this will fail or cannot be technically done, I'm just saying that there are some things that Google cannot control so users have to be prepared for some letdowns.
    1STnTENDERBITSwatto_cobra
  • Reply 15 of 23
    Digital Foundry did a good vid on the behind the scenes aspects of Stadia.

  • Reply 16 of 23
    maestro64 said:
    Anyone want to do an over or under on how long before Google shuts it down and tell everyone involve they need to seek employment somewhere else

    We also need calls on what it will be renamed to, before it shuts down!
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 17 of 23
    ElCapitanElCapitan Posts: 372member
    DAalseth said:
    I want something like this to be subscription based. Hopefully they bring this to iOS,tvOS or Mac.
    On Cult of Mac they are saying yes it will run on macOS/iOS. According to them it will run on anything running a Chrome browser: https://www.cultofmac.com/613308/google-stadia-cloud-gaming-service-mac-iphone-ipad/
    Chrome browser - not interested in a million years to install that spy on my systems. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 18 of 23
    michelb76michelb76 Posts: 610member
    This has the best chance of succeeding. Using the newer QUIC protocol to cut down on latency, this may actually have a very good chance. People complain about latency, but a lot of console gamers don't even enable game mode on their tv. Of course this isn't going to be an option for the 'leet pro gamers' as those shooting games need every bit of latency removed. For the other 99% of games and gamers, this could be perfect.
    gatorguy
  • Reply 19 of 23
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    Short 4 minute version of the stage presentation, particularly for those who don't know much if anything about what it is:


    edited March 2019
  • Reply 20 of 23
    boltsfan17boltsfan17 Posts: 2,294member
    gatorguy said:
    The stat Google is touting as Stadia being more powerful than a PS4 Pro and One X is a bit silly. It's a streaming platform. I checked out the announcement and it was pretty funny the latency issues during the demo. I'm highly skeptical Google can keep latency as low as they are claiming. No current cloud services have 0 latency. Stadia may work fine for single player games, but no way there won't be latency issues playing a game like Battlefield V. 
    According to Google latency won't be an issue for multiplayer. They had a segment of the presentation where that was discussed and the reasons latency won't be the problem some are expecting based on current gaming platforms. It will still be a few months before you can see for yourself if it's a problem or not. Heck, Microsoft thinks it's the way forward too and creating their own version of it.

    FWIW I didn't see the "funny latency issue" you were mentioning but the livestream is still available to look at it again.  
    Early testing shows there are latency issues with Stadia. I don't think it will be any different when it comes out. There are too many variables such as internet speed, TV/monitor, etc. I read quite a few people complaining of input lag playing Doom at the demo area. I really don't see who the target audience is for this. Gaming on a PC/Console will still be a way better experience. 
    watto_cobra
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