For those interested in trying out Google Stadia, the new streaming service, today Google held their first Stadia Connect to give out some details. Quick reminder: Stadia is the game streaming service powered by Debian Linux and Vulkan. It’s supposed to offer a “single click” experience with “no downloading required”.
On the subject of pricing: They will have a Stadia Pro subscription at $9.99/£8.99 a month which gives you up to 4K resolution with regular free games and discounts. They will also do Stadia Base with no monthly sub that will come "next year" limiting you to 1080p, both allowing you to buy games whenever you want.
However, it seems only those who purchase the special Founders Edition will get access sometime in November. This includes first access to Stadia, a Chromecast Ultra, limited edition Stadia Controller, 3 months of Stadia Pro, a guest pass to give access to a friend and the Complete Edition of Destiny 2.
First set of games includes: Baldur’s Gate III (Larian Studios) was newly announced - Trailer, Ghost Recon Breakpoint, Gylt, Get Packed, The Division 2, Destiny 2, DOOM Eternal, Football Manager 2020, GRID, Metro Exodus, The Elder Scrolls Online, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Tomb Raider Trilogy, Borderlands 3 and more.
A pretty interesting line-up and there’s more they’re going to announce later, that’s just all they’re teasing for now. They also reiterated wide support for different game pads, not just their own.
You can see the video here:
Direct Link
If you want to play at 1080p, Google are saying you will need a 20Mbps connection. That actually seems quite low, but even so the bandwidth use that will come along with it will likely be massive. If your connection is a bit wobbly, Stadia will keep your progress for "several minutes".
As for availability, they're launching in Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, USA and the United Kingdom. They say more countries will come in 2020 too.
See more at the official Stadia website and their FAQ here.
I found it quite amusing that the video kept dying on me (seems for others too), after Google's recent outage it doesn't exactly fill me with confidence about buying AAA titles to stream them through Google's network.
I remain unconvinced by it, especially now we know we will be buying games as well and you're locked to 1080p unless you also pay a monthly subscription. Buying a game, to have no real access to it with Google controlling every part of it? I mentioned before I didn't particularly like the idea of even less ownership but with a Netflix-like subscription model it might have made more sense but not if you're still paying full price.
I will add more details as I look over it all.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
That said, it isn't as bad as it could be. Subscription is not outrageous by trying to mix the actual service with the catalogue, and there is even a free version that is very capable. You gain access to specific games by paying only once and not constantly, and you can pick individual games. Oh, and games don't seem to be exclusive so far. It's still really bad though; online-only single-player games, I assume games bought can't be played outside of the service, you probably would need to re-buy the games, there are severe regional limitations, and while it allows savings in graphics cards it has extra costs in internet services and the subscription itself.
My probably unpopular opinion is that if high-end computers to play those games are really a big limiting factor (enough to justify this kind of service), developers should just make lighter games. Those expensive and heavy graphics AAA games use aren't meaningless, but are absolutely not worth it; games from 10 years ago still look more than good enough, and artsy indies look better than any big titles and run on potatoes.
Quoting: wintermuteI'm reading through the footnotes on the Google Stadia page:It's possible, but the whole point of the stadia controller is it's ability to connect directly to google servers.
QuoteStadia Controller requires a Wi-Fi® network and a mobile device running Android 6.0, Marshmallow or later, or iOS 11 or later.
Does this mean it won't be possible to use the controller/stream games directly with/to a PC?
You don't have to use it, but it should have less input lag than using any other controller or mouse+keyboard
Quoting: GuestFor stadia pro (which will be the sole option in November 2019) you will have to fork 129.99 $ Then, after three months 9 $ a month. That's steep.No. the 129$ are for the founder's pack, wich is optional.
Quoting: GuestI wonder if the DOOM 2016 will come from the in house Linux version. And if it will be released for desktop users (i doubt it, because of the cost of support)Who knows... maybe.
At least, it runs pretty well on wine.
Quoting: ziabiceMy 2 cents: if you can't access the source code, the hardware schematics or can't participate in decision about the software or hardware, it is a closed proprietary thing... Vulkan + Linux, sure, but...Well, yes.
But maybe thanks to stadia more developers will release their games on linux too, and more developers will consider using Vulkan for their games, even on windows.
...Or maybe not.
Quoting: SalvatosNow Borderlands 3 being part of the first set of games is very interesting. Wasn't it supposed to be an Epic exclusive for 6 months?It's esclusive on PC.... But It will also be available for consoles (PS4 and Xbox One).
Stadia is not considered as a PC game store, so no problem.
Last edited by Iperpido on 6 June 2019 at 9:03 pm UTC
Kimyrielle Jun 6, 2019
On the other end of the spectrum, casual games run on the same low-end machines you'd still need to stream games on anyway.
I don't even get who game streaming is targeted at. It seems to make zero sense for all possible audiences.
Last edited by Kimyrielle on 6 June 2019 at 9:43 pm UTC
Micromegas Jun 6, 2019
Quoting: MaathIt will be interesting to see if any of the games on this list which are already out but not available on Linux become available. For example Shadow of the Tomb Raider. The other two in this series are already available for Linux.
i wonder who gets the money for stadia sells
feral, or enix
For that reason, I kind of hope that things like resolution and framerate increases will mean that the bandwidth requirements for a comfortable experience comparable to local code will always remain ahead of what most people actually have. I suspect they will, but we'll just have to wait and see. I never thought we'd see streaming HD video over, basically, copper twisted-pair phone lines, yet here we are.
Doc Angelo Jun 6, 2019
Quoting: KimyrielleSo gamers spend hundreds of dollars on multi-GPU rigs just to squeeze a few extra frames out of their games - and people now expect them to tolerate completely unnecessary and completely unavoidable lag in their games, and dedicate a big portion of their bandwith to streaming a game they could play in much better quality locally? Apparently gamers don't mind spending money on hardware, otherwise they wouldn't do it.
On the other end of the spectrum, casual games run on the same low-end machines you'd still need to stream games on anyway.
I don't even get who game streaming is targeted at. It seems to make zero sense for all possible audiences.
If you have a gaming machine under your desktop, nobody expects you to buy all your game on Stadia. Stadia isn't targeted at people who have their own expensive gaming rig. Stadia is targeted at all the people who like to get into gaming without paying big money upfront just for the possibility to buy a game. There are countless people in China or India who fall into this category. Google mentioned a potential of 2 billion customers.
Last edited by Doc Angelo on 6 June 2019 at 10:59 pm UTC
Quoting: IperpidoIt's esclusive on PC.... But It will also be available for consoles (PS4 and Xbox One).That seems like a stretch. What does it run on besides PCs?
Stadia is not considered as a PC game store, so no problem.
wvstolzing Jun 6, 2019
Quoting: SalvatosQuoting: IperpidoIt's esclusive on PC.... But It will also be available for consoles (PS4 and Xbox One).That seems like a stretch. What does it run on besides PCs?
Stadia is not considered as a PC game store, so no problem.
They said 'anything with a screen' at one point; though what they mean is likely 'anything that can run chrome'.
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