Google have now finally unveiled their new cloud gaming service named Stadia, offering instant access to play games in Google Chrome.
What they joked was the worst-kept secret in the industry (no kidding), sounds like quite an interesting service. Certainly one that could eventually end up redefining what gaming is. A little hyperbolic maybe? I'm not so sure considering how easy this should be to jump into a game. On top of that, they very clearly talked about how it's built on Linux (Debian specifically) and Vulkan with custom GPUs from AMD.
Something they showed off, was how you could be watching a game trailer with a button to play it on Stadia and (supposedly within a few seconds) you would jump right into it. That's quite en exciting idea, one that would easily pull in quite a lot of people I've no doubt.
As for resolution, they said it will support 1080p and 4K around 60FPS at release with 8K being worked on as well but that sounds further out if anyone even cares about 8K right now.
They also showed off their new controller, with a dedicated Google Assistant button and a button to capture video immediately for YouTube:
While Google are making their own dedicated gamepad, they did say it will be compatible with other devices too.
They also announced partnerships with both Unity and Unreal Engine and Stadia will "embrace full cross-platform play" including "game saves and progression". They also had id Software, talk about how it didn't take long to bring the new Doom Eternal to Stadia, thanks to how they made the previous Doom game with Vulkan.
This means, that development for Linux is suddenly going to become a priority for a lot more developers and publishers. I don't want to overstate how important that is, but it's a very exciting prospect. This doesn't suddenly mean we're going to see a lot more Linux games on the desktop, but it's entirely possible after they go through all the work to get the games working on Linux with Vulkan for Stadia.
Stream Connect is another service they talked about. They mentioned how developers have pushed the boundaries of gaming but often local co-op is left out, as doing it multiple times in top-end games can require really beefy hardware. With Stadia, each instance would be powered by their servers so it wouldn't be such an issue. They also talked about how if you're playing some sort of squad-based game, how you could bring up their screen to see what they're doing which sounds very cool.
Google also announced the formation of their own game studio, Stadia Games and Entertainment, to work on exclusive games for their new service.
As for support from more external game developers, they mentioned how they've shipped "development hardware" to over 100 developers. From what they said, it should be open to smaller developers as well as the usual AAA bunch.
Stadia is confirmed to be launching this year and it will be first available in the US, Canada, UK and "most of Europe". One thing wasn't mentioned at all—price, but they said more details will be available in the summer. The official site is also now up on stadia.com and developers have their own website to look over.
Google also posted up some extra information on their developer blog:
Google believes that open source is good for everyone. It enables and encourages collaboration and the development of technology, solving real-world problems. This is especially true on Stadia, as we believe the game development community has a strong history of collaboration, innovation and shared gains as techniques and technology continually improve. We’re investing in open-source technology to create the best platform for developers, in partnership with the people that use it. This starts with our platform foundations of Linux and Vulkan and shows in our selection of GPUs that have open-source drivers and tools. We’re integrating LLVM and DirectX Shader Compiler to ensure you get great features and performance from our compilers and debuggers. State-of-the-art graphics tools are critical to game developers, and we’re excited to leverage and contribute to RenderDoc, GAPID and Radeon GPU Profiler — best of breed open-source graphics debugging and profiling tools that are continually improving.
There's probably plenty I missed, you can see their video on YouTube here.
As exciting and flashy as it sounds, it's obviously not Linux "desktop" gaming which is what the majority of our audience is likely interested in. However, things change and if it does become a huge hit we will cover it more often if readers request it. Linux gaming can mean all sorts of things from native games to emulators, Wine and Steam Play and now perhaps some cloud gaming so I don't want to rule it out. However, I can't see this replacing Steam, Humble, GOG, itch.io and so on for me personally.
Obviously there’s still a lot of drawbacks to such a service, especially since you will likely have zero ownership of the actual games so they could get taken away at any time when licensing vanishes. At least with stores like Steam, you still get to access those games because you purchased them. Although, this does depend on what kind of licensing Google do with developers and publishers, it might not be an issue at all but it’s still a concern of mine. Latency and input lag, are also two other major concerns but given Google's power with their vast networks, it might not be so bad.
Also, good luck monitoring your bandwidth use with this, it's likely going to eat up a lot all of it. YouTube and Netflix use up quite a bit just for watching a 30-minute episode of something in good quality, how about a few hours per day gaming across Stadia? Ouch.
That doesn't even address the real elephant in the room, you're going to be giving Google even more of your data if you use this service, a lot more. This is the company that failed to promptly disclose a pretty huge data leak in Google+ after all. I don't want to be some sort of scaremongering crazy-person but it's something to think about.
As always, the comments are open for you to voice your opinion on it. Please remain respectful to those with a different opinion on the matter.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Quoting: HopfenmeisterI actually tweeted about this last night, I wonder if it might be a boon for porting houses like Aspyr and Feral. They have a lot of Linux expertise already and they do a good job, so they might see some calls. If they sweeten the pot to release on Steam for some extra monies = win win.QuoteIf some AAA games start to be developed for these Stadia servers, i strongly doubt they'll be available for Linux desktop on others stores. I don't think Ubisoft or Square care about the tiny Linux market share, but i'm sure they care about the potential massive audience they could reach with Google
Imagine you are a game publisher with a game developed for Stadia, but you don't care about releasing for Linux because you are scared of having to support different distributions and hardware configurations? I have a business proposal for you...
DefaultX-od Mar 20, 2019
Plus, on Steam, I can see how much time people play on their games. For the vast, vast majority of games, people only have a couple hours of play-time. Why spend $60 for a game that you might not like, that you probably will play for a couple hours? And then there are one-shot games, like point and click games or visual novel games, where there is just no reason at all to own the game after completing.
I have spent many hundred of dollars on 450 games, over the last year, on steam, and a majority of those games are not ever going to get much playtime. So, Google Stadia will give access to some of the same games at a flat monthly rate? Sign me up.
I wonder if Valve could exploit it somehow to convince more publishers to support (some kind of) Linux desktop.
Stadia supposedly is a single uniform hardware platform (working in a cloud, but still a set hardware and software configuration, like a console). Valve hypothetically could try to basically copy this configuration (similar AMD CPU and a GPU, Debian-based SteamOS with the same drivers) and release it as the new Steam Machine, and advertise it as its new PC-compatible console that is also compatible with Stadia and has just one supported configuration.
Then they could market it that if you already have a Stadia version, you can just release it for the Steam Machine, and not worry about support for other Linuxes and hw configuration.
This might generate compatibility issues for other distros (but still, most games target only Ubuntu, so eg. Arch or Fedora users already have this problem) and Intel+nVidia PCs, but in the age of open APIs and good drivers it shouldn’t be that problematic. And it might convince more companies to release the Linux versions.
Last edited by silmeth on 20 March 2019 at 11:25 am UTC
Quoting: tuxdeluxSurprised to see all the complaints about privacy / drm / lack of ownership / linux support here
Not sure what to be surprised here about. Making DRM matters worse, not better is a major step in the wrong direction.
Last edited by Shmerl on 20 March 2019 at 11:21 am UTC
Quoting: tuxdeluxSurprised to see all the complaints about privacy / drm / lack of ownership / linux support here, after seeing all the justification for compromise for other linux gaming advancements. I predict this is going to be hugely successful for some types of games, and in a few years, it will be totally accepted. The complaints remind me of the same things I heard for word processors (google docs), music cds (streaming), and dvds (netflix).
Plus, on Steam, I can see how much time people play on their games. For the vast, vast majority of games, people only have a couple hours of play-time. Why spend $60 for a game that you might not like, that you probably will play for a couple hours? And then there are one-shot games, like point and click games or visual novel games, where there is just no reason at all to own the game after completing.
I have spent many hundred of dollars on 450 games, over the last year, on steam, and a majority of those games are not ever going to get much playtime. So, Google Stadia will give access to some of the same games at a flat monthly rate? Sign me up.
Spot on. It will be a thing going forward, like it or not.
One caveat - I will never personally use it myself! I detest Google.
Quoting: ShmerlQuoting: tuxdeluxSurprised to see all the complaints about privacy / drm / lack of ownership / linux support here
Not sure what to be surprised here about. Making DRM matters worse, not better is a major step in the wrong direction.
It's only DRM if it's the only way to play the game. As someone pointed out earlier, going to the cinema isn't DRM, you can buy the DVD if you want to "own" it. Same thing exactly.
Quoting: fabertaweIt's only DRM if it's the only way to play the game. As someone pointed out earlier, going to the cinema isn't DRM, you can buy the DVD if you want to "own" it. Same thing exactly.
It will be the only way to play games through Stadia, i.e. they aren't offering downloads. So it is DRMed. Whether same games will be available DRM-free in other places, remains to be seen, but each store is evaluated according to its policies, not according to what's available in other stores.
Last edited by Shmerl on 20 March 2019 at 11:36 am UTC
Quoting: silmethI have another random thought about it.
I wonder if Valve could exploit it somehow to convince more publishers to support (some kind of) Linux desktop.
Stadia supposedly is a single uniform hardware platform (working in a cloud, but still a set hardware and software configuration, like a console). Valve hypothetically could try to basically copy this configuration (similar AMD CPU and a GPU, Debian-based SteamOS with the same drivers) and release it as the new Steam Machine, and advertise it as its new PC-compatible console that is also compatible with Stadia and has just one supported configuration.
Then they could market it that if you already have a Stadia version, you can just release it for the Steam Machine, and not worry about support for other Linuxes and hw configuration.
This might generate compatibility issues for other distros (but still, most games target only Ubuntu, so eg. Arch or Fedora users already have this problem) and Intel+nVidia PCs, but in the age of open APIs and good drivers it shouldn’t be that problematic. And it might convince more companies to release the Linux versions.
I'm having a different thought about what Value's working towards.
The real reason for Proton? To get as many of their Steam catalogue working on Linux based servers running in their data centers, to provide a cloud based streaming service for their existing customer base.
The reason for testing steam link over the Internet now, is not just so we can have our home machine running 24/7 while we're on vacation somewhere, but to test their streaming tech over the internet, for use with their future cloud streaming service.
Personally I would love to play my Steam library from anywhere, using Steams data centers directly.
QuoteGoogle announce ‘Stadia’, their new cloudgamingdata collection service built on Linux and Vulkan
And "to get 1080p, 60 frames per second," we're gonna need "approximately 25 megabits per second."
I'm in the country, stuck with DSL (0.6 MB/s), with no hope of getting anything better until either the government grows some balls or AT&T grows a soul---so fuck Google.
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