Google Stadia: A bleak or a Bright Future of Gaming?

controller stadia
controller stadia
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Imagine being able to play the latest games with just a screen via an internet connection without the need of a gaming pc, PS4, Xbox or any gaming console and also without having the hassle of downloading or installing a game. Sounds too good to be true? Stadia, which is Google’s newest and probably the most innovative venture so far, is this very idea. On 19th March of 2019 Google announced this revolutionary new gaming technology at the Game Developers Conference in San Diego.

To understand how Google Stadia works, we need to delve deep into the ever existing problems of gaming. Gaming is getting more expensive with each passing year. The developers are crafting games with their utmost dedication, blending in high resolution graphics, intense gameplay and mind-boggling plots. As the benchmark for the gaming mechanisms got better, so did the prices. The cost of gaming hardware is much more than ever before and it is technically an investment to be able to run a game at bare minimum. Moreover, there is the barrier that sets gaming platforms apart. The consoles and the accounts are all different, making it difficult to bring gamers under one platform.

Therefore, Google came up with an idea to surpass all these problems, looking into developing a solution by creating a platform that will allow all the gamers to find their way around these obstacles. Enters Google Stadia, a technology that redefines gaming as we know it. A game can be played on Stadia via any screen, be it a mobile phone or a TV screen, and can be interacted with any kind of console keyboard or tap screen. The idea is that the game will be run on Google’s server and can be fed to any remote screen at any part of the world, provided that there is a stable enough internet connection. Essentially, it is a cloud-based gaming that runs on Google’s own server, thus the motto “Data center is your platform”.

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Even though the Stadia is a remarkable idea, Google is neither the first company nor even one of the pioneers to be exploring similar options. The idea has been around for a while and companies like Shadow, Parsec, Railway have already built cloud-based gaming. Unfortunately, it never really struck well within the wide array of gamers. Google believes that they can surpass this problem with their innovative and ever improving technology. Google might be ahead in the arena of cloud-based gaming but gaming-tech giants like Microsoft X-Box, Sony PlayStation, Valve are already in the race to revolutionize the future of this field.

As Google ventures out into the world of cloud-based gaming with Stadia, it holds the promise to change the future of gaming once and for all. If the company can deliver on its promise and provide an exemplary performance, it might be the end of modern gaming and change the way we play games on platforms for good. This may be a potential threat to a lot of the game developers. The ability to play games without needing to purchase any of the gaming equipment might push a lot of the gaming companies to the brink of going out of business. Thus, gaming becomes free for all but with a catch. We are looking into a probable future where gamers have to bid goodbye to owning a game because rather than buying it, one has to pay a monthly subscription for access. With so many variables thrown into the equation of cloud-based gaming, the future of gaming seems uncertain. However, a lot of the critics has opinionated that the idea will have a decent audience but might not resonate within the major chunk of console gamers.

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