At the recent Google for Games Developer Summit it seems that Google actually still has quite a clear focus on Stadia and they're trying to entice more developers to bring their games over.
For starters, the optional Stadia Pro subscription will (starting this month) have new titles that enter Stadia Pro give back 70% of the revenue to developers. This will be based upon "engagement", meaning it's depending on how much time players spend with each title which according to Google it's an "industry leading" amount to give back.
The revenue share that developers get from normal Stadia purchases is also improving. Developers will get 85% of the revenue for the first $3 million, however they mentioned this is for titles launching between October 1, 2021 to the end of 2023. After that, it goes back to the "normal" cut which they didn't say but a Google spokesperson mentioned it's aligned with other stores (so likely back to Google taking around 30%).
Stadia will also give developers a special click-to-play link, expanding upon their current implementation that lets users click a link and jump into a game with a new affiliate program. So developers will get their own links, and earn bonus revenue ($10 per user) from users using their links who end up signing up for Stadia Pro.
Developing for Stadia is about to get easier too. Stadia is based on Debian Linux with games needing to use the cross-platform Vulkan API, which has caused getting ports to Stadia to be slower than other cloud gaming services since developers actually need to build it for Stadia (whereas GeForce NOW for example just uses the existing Windows builds). They've announced new testing and development tools for developers, they've simplified getting games certified and approved for Stadia and there's going to be a whole new Stadia Porting Toolkit.
The Stadia Porting Toolkit is a very interesting one, as they're saying developers won't need to manually port from DirectX to Vulkan. One part of it mentioned was a set of translation libraries for DirectX to Vulkan, which sounded very much like what DXVK and VKD3D-Proton do right now for Steam Play Proton.
You can see a short round-up of some announcements below:
Direct Link
Stadia is now closing in on 200 titles too, with quite a lot more planned to be releasing across this year. Perhaps with these new revenue models we might see a sudden surge towards the end of this year / early next year.
Additionally, it was just announced that FIFA 22 will release on October 1 for Stadia too. There's been a bit of an uproar about this, as it's getting a new "HyperMotion" next-gen tech for consoles and Stadia but the Windows version will not be getting all the special new tech and yet Stadia is. Streets of Rage 4 is also releasing for Stadia on July 15, and your last chance to claim Orcs Must Die! 3 on Stadia Pro will be today so be sure to claim it if you haven't already.
Play Stadia on Linux on Stadia.com with a Chromium browser.
Quoting: GuestWell . . . probably no incentive. If they are actually trying to make a Switch-like, Linux-based gaming platform thingie and are serious about it, they have an incentive to boost the number of titles which will work reliably on that platform when it comes out.Quoting: kellerkindtI think this is where valve should step in an help out and/or push game studios to also update & publish the Linux/Stadia version onto Steam for Linux desktop... which seems to me like low hanging fruits...?
Why would Valve do that?
Leaving aside that Google probably has terms in place precisely to prevent such a thing, especially if they're directly helping game studios to create that version, there's really nothing in it for Valve, no incentive for them to do so.
If. So far our speculations on that issue have rather thin foundations.
Last edited by Purple Library Guy on 14 July 2021 at 11:58 pm UTC
Quoting: Purple Library GuyWell . . . probably no incentive. If they are actually trying to make a Switch-like, Linux-based gaming platform thingie and are serious about it, they have an incentive to boost the number of titles which will work reliably on that platform when it comes out.Which is why Valve cares primarily about Proton.
Quoting: elmapul[...]
i mean, if we didnt got more marketshare, what will be the result of that then? simple, the ultimate drm, and as soon as they start making more cloud exclusive games , we can kiss goodby to preservation, say hello to region locking and regional censorship will be impossible to avoid.
"...but that's without our <insert well-known brand> VPN solution !"
Quoting: Purple Library GuyWell . . . probably no incentive. If they are actually trying to make a Switch-like, Linux-based gaming platform thingie and are serious about it, they have an incentive to boost the number of titles which will work reliably on that platform when it comes out.Well. Reality seems to have bypassed me a tad. The foundations just thickened rather.
If. So far our speculations on that issue have rather thin foundations.
Quoting: furaxhornyxQuoting: elmapul[...]
i mean, if we didnt got more marketshare, what will be the result of that then? simple, the ultimate drm, and as soon as they start making more cloud exclusive games , we can kiss goodby to preservation, say hello to region locking and regional censorship will be impossible to avoid.
"...but that's without our <insert well-known brand> VPN solution !"
W.R.O.N.G.
we cant rely on VPN forever because cloud gaming has an magic thing called "input lag", the light speed has an limit, you cant send an signal for an server in the other side of the world and receive the result in less than 1/7 second, even in an straight line without any processing involved.
now add the detour to the vpn servers, and other detour from an straight line+the time to process, encode and decode the image and we quickly see the limits of this tech.
its not an big deal if you live close to the servers, but as i said, what if the game is exclusive to another country and to the cloud?
and what if they decide to stop distributing/selling the game because the rights to an character expired or something like that?
Last edited by elmapul on 16 July 2021 at 8:14 am UTC
Quoting: elmapulQuoting: furaxhornyxQuoting: elmapul[...]
i mean, if we didnt got more marketshare, what will be the result of that then? simple, the ultimate drm, and as soon as they start making more cloud exclusive games , we can kiss goodby to preservation, say hello to region locking and regional censorship will be impossible to avoid.
"...but that's without our <insert well-known brand> VPN solution !"
W.R.O.N.G.
we cant rely on VPN forever because cloud gaming has an magic thing called "input lag", the light speed has an limit, you cant send an signal for an server in the other side of the world and receive the result in less than 1/7 second, even in an straight line without any processing involved.
now add the detour to the vpn servers, and other detour from an straight line+the time to process, encode and decode the image and we quickly see the limits of this tech.
its not an big deal if you live close to the servers, but as i said, what if the game is exclusive to another country and to the cloud?
and what if they decide to stop distributing/selling the game because the rights to an character expired or something like that?
I know, but most VPN sellers will market you otherwise (I think I have even seen the argument of "going through our servers will in fact reduce your lag")
I was just replying in a sarcastic way to the argument of region locking / unavailable content.
Quoting: furaxhornyxQuoting: elmapulQuoting: furaxhornyxQuoting: elmapul[...]
i mean, if we didnt got more marketshare, what will be the result of that then? simple, the ultimate drm, and as soon as they start making more cloud exclusive games , we can kiss goodby to preservation, say hello to region locking and regional censorship will be impossible to avoid.
"...but that's without our <insert well-known brand> VPN solution !"
W.R.O.N.G.
we cant rely on VPN forever because cloud gaming has an magic thing called "input lag", the light speed has an limit, you cant send an signal for an server in the other side of the world and receive the result in less than 1/7 second, even in an straight line without any processing involved.
now add the detour to the vpn servers, and other detour from an straight line+the time to process, encode and decode the image and we quickly see the limits of this tech.
its not an big deal if you live close to the servers, but as i said, what if the game is exclusive to another country and to the cloud?
and what if they decide to stop distributing/selling the game because the rights to an character expired or something like that?
I know, but most VPN sellers will market you otherwise (I think I have even seen the argument of "going through our servers will in fact reduce your lag")
I was just replying in a sarcastic way to the argument of region locking / unavailable content.
oh sorry, i'm really slow with sarcasm
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