We have more interesting news to share this morning about updates surrounding Google Stadia, the game streaming service.
Firstly, engineer Justin Uberti who helped to create WebRTC and Google Duo has announced they've moved onto leading the Google Stadia engineering team. Google certainly need all the help they can get building their gaming platform, after such a rough launch. Uberti also mentioned that they will be hiring for Stadia in Seattle/Kirkland (USA) so get in touch if working on cloud gaming sounds like your thing.
Google have also finally put the Stadia store online in the browser, it's no longer totally locked to the mobile app. This was one of the pain points of the early launch, although you likely still need to actually have a Stadia account and a Chromium-based browser to even access it.
As you can see from the above shot Darksiders Genesis is also a brand new release, which came with same-day Stadia support so anyone who is currently in can play Darksiders Genesis on Linux with Stadia.
However, curiously, Darksiders Genesis actually costs more on Stadia than it does on other stores like Steam. On Stadia it's £34.99, on Steam it's £26.99. This highlights another big problem Stadia has, the pricing is already not competitive with other leading stores. Considering you get no local copy, it feels thoroughly wrong that it costs more.
On the brighter side of game news, the complete Destiny 2 pack is going to remain on Stadia Pro "for the foreseeable future" and it sounds like there's no current plan to remove it. Meaning anyone signing up to Stadia Pro next year when it's open to everyone, should be able to grab the whole bundle. Additionally, those who opt for Destiny 2 on Stadia will get quite literally everything (all seasons, raids, campaigns and so on) released for it through Summer 2020. Confirmed here under "Accessing Destiny 2".
If you're interested in seeing how Stadia runs on Linux, see my own initial impressions here. We've yet to face any major problems with it. Another option to play even more top games on Linux is great.
Lastly, if you wish to try out Stadia, Google have announced they're doing a few pop-up locations for people to come along and try it in: Los Angeles USA (Dec 11), London UK (Dec 11) and Paris France (Dec 13), more info on that here.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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they will be hiring for Stadia in in Seattle/Kirkland (USA)Separated from Valve by the Lake Washington ...
Last edited by 0aTT on 6 December 2019 at 10:37 am UTC
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Business-wise, it seems Stadia makes every mistake possible.
Launching with lackluster features? Check.
Launching with myriads of problems? Check.
Launching with few available games? Check.
Non-competitive pricing? Check.
...
So weird.
Launching with lackluster features? Check.
Launching with myriads of problems? Check.
Launching with few available games? Check.
Non-competitive pricing? Check.
...
So weird.
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I'm a bit confused about the nature of Stadia. Is there more to it for Linux gamers than just using Linux at Google's end? If there isn't, it's fine with me---please don't think I'm trying to knock coverage of it here. I'm just feeling an excitement around Stadia here that I'm not feeling myself, so I figure I must have missed something along the way.
Last edited by Nanobang on 6 December 2019 at 12:25 pm UTC
Last edited by Nanobang on 6 December 2019 at 12:25 pm UTC
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I'm a bit confused about the nature of Stadia. Is there more to it for Linux gamers than just using Linux at Google's end? If there isn't, it's fine with me---please don't think I'm trying to knock coverage of it here. I'm just feeling an excitement around Stadia here that I'm not feeling myself, so I figure I must have missed something along the way.No, it's not just because it uses Linux on Google's servers, the entire point is that it's yet another option to play popular titles on Linux. Especially true for multiplayer titles (like Destiny 2). If it was just server stuff, we wouldn't cover it past their initial announcement. We're all about Linux + Gaming of course ;)
I see it on a comparable level to Steam Play at the very least. In comparison to Steam Play though, games on Stadia should "just work" where as Steam Play is a gamble unless you specifically seek-out titles that others have already been the guinea pig for to let you know if it works at all.
Last edited by Liam Dawe on 6 December 2019 at 12:45 pm UTC
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Well bigger pricing could possibly be justified (maybe not that much bigger, but still) in this way - you get to run your game on whatever platform (well from supported ones), so if you can play it on mobile (don't know if that is done already), you get pc, mobile, chrome gadget versions. Which is kinda more than just having PC version. Playing devils advocate here :)
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Darksiders is one of my all time favorite franchises. I played the original on Xbox 360 and now own all of the other games...on steam. And they all run on Linux via proton. Currently this game has a platinum rating on protondb so I'll likely get this one on steam too, I just wish they'd release the Linux/vulkan binary. Native > Proton, especially with how well DS:G runs on stadia. I did end up purchasing it to try it on Stadia but will likely refund.
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Stadia's operating costs are far higher than Steam's, I'm not surprised that the games are more expensive. They may have started losing money with an aggressive launch promotion in order to attract users, but there's no way they can offer prices as low as you can see in other store's sales in the long run.
Or maybe they are actually using an aggressive launch promotion and the games will get even more expensive in the future. :D
Or maybe they are actually using an aggressive launch promotion and the games will get even more expensive in the future. :D
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THQ Nordic is one of the Linux friendly publishers. Yet, I don't see the Linux version of Darksider: Genesis anywhere. Is Google pulling any exclusivity garbage requirement?
Last edited by Shmerl on 6 December 2019 at 4:32 pm UTC
Last edited by Shmerl on 6 December 2019 at 4:32 pm UTC
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Do you see any Darksiders game out for Linux anywhere?
Since it's on Stadia, that's one. And THQ Nordic is usually positive about desktop Linux releases. So why is it not out then?
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@Liam: May be writing to them would be a good idea, to clarify what's blocking normal Linux release in this case.
I.e. in case of legacy publishers, such situation would be expected, but from THQ Nordic, I expected something better.
Last edited by Shmerl on 6 December 2019 at 6:29 pm UTC
I.e. in case of legacy publishers, such situation would be expected, but from THQ Nordic, I expected something better.
Last edited by Shmerl on 6 December 2019 at 6:29 pm UTC
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@Liam: May be writing to them would be a good idea, to clarify what's blocking normal Linux release in this case.
I.e. in case of legacy publishers, such situation would be expected, but from THQ Nordic, I expected something better.
THQ is just the publisher. Airship Syndicate is the studio behind Darksiders Genesis.
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@Liam: May be writing to them would be a good idea, to clarify what's blocking normal Linux release in this case.Same answer as always, market share. Stadia has Google's backing and is a "single platform" in the mind of developers.
I.e. in case of legacy publishers, such situation would be expected, but from THQ Nordic, I expected something better.
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THQ is just the publisher. Airship Syndicate is the studio behind Darksiders Genesis.
And commonly such things are blocked on the publisher level. I.e. since developers already released it for Stadia, they shouldn't be lacking Linux expertise.
Last edited by Shmerl on 6 December 2019 at 7:34 pm UTC
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Same answer as always, market share. Stadia has Google's backing and is a "single platform" in the mind of developers.
Not from THQ. Current market share and even smaller one didn't bother them. They published a number of games for Linux, and even spent money on remaking old ones and released them for Linux. So they are clearly in a different category from legacy publishers, who ignore small markets.
So since developers made a version for Stadia, it should be natural to expect THQ to support normal Linux release in such case, which is a lot easier than making from scratch Linux release like they did in the past.
Last edited by Shmerl on 6 December 2019 at 7:56 pm UTC
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THQ is just the publisher. Airship Syndicate is the studio behind Darksiders Genesis.
And commonly such things are blocked on the publisher level. I.e. since developers already released it for Stadia, they shouldn't lacking Linux expertise.
Normally yes and it would indeed be very interesting to hear THQ:s side of this. Could be that normally THQ is not against the dev studio releasing also on Linux but that Airship is not interested. Could be that the Stadia port is not yet in good shape enough to be distributed as a stand alone version, could be that THQ as a small studio is already busy enough with them releasing it on stadfia+steam+xbox+switch, could be a million things.
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I'm a bit confused about the nature of Stadia. Is there more to it for Linux gamers than just using Linux at Google's end? If there isn't, it's fine with me---please don't think I'm trying to knock coverage of it here. I'm just feeling an excitement around Stadia here that I'm not feeling myself, so I figure I must have missed something along the way.No, it's not just because it uses Linux on Google's servers, the entire point is that it's yet another option to play popular titles on Linux. Especially true for multiplayer titles (like Destiny 2). If it was just server stuff, we wouldn't cover it past their initial announcement. We're all about Linux + Gaming of course ;)
I see it on a comparable level to Steam Play at the very least. In comparison to Steam Play though, games on Stadia should "just work" where as Steam Play is a gamble unless you specifically seek-out titles that others have already been the guinea pig for to let you know if it works at all.
Well, then I guess technically playing games in a Windows VM running in Linux is playing games on Linux.
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Normally yes and it would indeed be very interesting to hear THQ:s side of this. Could be that normally THQ is not against the dev studio releasing also on Linux but that Airship is not interested. Could be that the Stadia port is not yet in good shape enough to be distributed as a stand alone version, could be that THQ as a small studio is already busy enough with them releasing it on stadfia+steam+xbox+switch, could be a million things.
Yep, that's why I said it's good to ask them, rather than assume "market share" issue. Probably Liam writing them would have more weight for THQ to actually answer, than us, who are random users for them.
Last edited by Shmerl on 6 December 2019 at 7:38 pm UTC
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I'm sure you're trying to make a point here, but it's not sticking. Windows VM is just playing on Windows. Stadia is not. It's fully Linux. You're on Linux, playing a game through the browser that's also being run from Linux. Games on Stadia need to be ported to Linux/Vulkan, so there's developers going to be getting more Linux porting knowledge at the same time.I'm a bit confused about the nature of Stadia. Is there more to it for Linux gamers than just using Linux at Google's end? If there isn't, it's fine with me---please don't think I'm trying to knock coverage of it here. I'm just feeling an excitement around Stadia here that I'm not feeling myself, so I figure I must have missed something along the way.No, it's not just because it uses Linux on Google's servers, the entire point is that it's yet another option to play popular titles on Linux. Especially true for multiplayer titles (like Destiny 2). If it was just server stuff, we wouldn't cover it past their initial announcement. We're all about Linux + Gaming of course ;)
I see it on a comparable level to Steam Play at the very least. In comparison to Steam Play though, games on Stadia should "just work" where as Steam Play is a gamble unless you specifically seek-out titles that others have already been the guinea pig for to let you know if it works at all.
Well, then I guess technically playing games in a Windows VM running in Linux is playing games on Linux.
Perhaps your point was more that you dislike Stadia coverage here? If that's the case, I'm not bothered. I write about what I want and others may be interested to know - it's how GOL has always and always will be run. Gaming on Linux, not "game on Linux this one specific way" ;)
Last edited by Liam Dawe on 6 December 2019 at 7:42 pm UTC
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