Google Stadia: The Countdown

<blockquote><em><a href="#508592">In reply to Lordbaal:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>that's not necessarily an advantage, if the games you want to play are not included in the subscription. Waiting for Microsoft to clarify this matter but what they said until now it's not promising at all</p>

<blockquote><em><a href="#508726">In reply to helix2301:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>The Stadia community is pretty active, just check their discord server and google, for now, is invested. If in a couple of years they close down the service and everyone loses access to the games they bought, their reputation would be really very badly damaged. I don' think it's going to happen.</p><p><br></p><p>For now, Stadia works pretty well and they are giving two games for free every month, a bit like with the old xbox live subscription. If, as it seems, xcloud, will be limited to gamepass only, Stadia will be a serious competitor. Many people here see Gamepass as a big advantage but the gaming community sees it as a huge limitation. Nobody wants to be limited to the gamepass titles. Out of a hundred games, less than five are viable. Only a couple are AAA titles and they are even some sort of niche AAA titles (Forza Horizon, Sea of Thieves). Moreover, Stadia will have a free tier. Many users, especially in the young gamers target group, prefer to buy a game once instead of paying for a monthly subscription.</p><p><br></p><p>The huge caveat in the whole story is connectivity. Of course this applies to every streaming service but until now, it has been a big problem. Many people just don't have the connectivity to use game streaming technologies. Even those who do (like myself) are limited to playing at home and that removes the entire portability promise. Until now, I tried Stadia in at least ten different locations and it never worked. If I can use it at home only, of course I prefer my own hardware. This may change with time when one needs to upgrade and connectivity becomes better. But it's a slooooow process. Upgrade cycles are becoming longer and longer, connectivity improvements over time are minimal. It could be a thing for ten years from now.</p>

<blockquote><em><a href="#509429">In reply to jimchamplin:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>sure but what you describe is a gigantic problem that hinders the whole concept. If to make it work decently I need complex gear and setup, spotless connection and I can use it only at home, why should I not stick with my gaming PC or console? </p>