Google Reveals Game Streaming Platform Called Stadia

During the Google keynote at GDC 2019, they announced the new game streaming service that they have been working on. This new platform/service is called Stadia. Stadia connects players and streamers together in a pretty interesting way. Here is a quick rundown of the things that were discussed yesterday. If you want to check out the full reveal, you can see Google’s full announcement below:

Stadia will be able to stream games at 4k 60fps on almost anything that has a screen (unfortunately, this pretty much confirms you will need a good internet connection to use Stadia). Since this is a streaming service after all and not a console, you won’t have to go through the troubles of downloading games with Stadia. As many others have said, this service is much like Netflix or Hulu. Essentially what Google is saying is that once you buy the game, you’ll have instant access to said game. The service will also be closely integrated with YouTube and streaming.

Along with all of that, Google announced that they have opened up their own first-party studio to develop games called Stadia Games and Entertainment.

One of the more important components of this service is Stadia’s Controller. The controller will utilize the Stadia platform more than a regular controller. It should be said that you do not need this for Stadia but they did imply that this was pretty important. Aesthetically, it is a pretty normal looking Xbox-esque controller with elements from PlayStation and Nintendo’s thrown in as well. This controller does have two extra buttons. The capture button that lets you instantly capture your footage and easily put it up on YouTube. The second button is for a Google Assistant, which is used especially for game features that the developers can use, and it can also be used to search for videos if a player is stuck on a game.

Google showed off some of the games that would take advantage of the cloud. For example, we saw a game that would feature some fully destructible environment (no, not Crackdown 3). They also showed a couple of minutes of Doom Eternal.

Google’s Stadia doesn’t have a price yet but it is scheduled to release sometime in 2019.

What do you think about this reveal? Does Stadia have a legit chance to thrive? What features were you most excited about? Let us know in the comments below!

George Barber

• graphic design major
• listen to a lot of heavy metal
• not great with words