Google has finally revealed its new gaming platform called Stadia. It’s a streaming service that offers a great gaming experience over the internet on any device you want, literally. Gamers should be able to stream to your PC, laptop, tablet, mobile phone and TV. Google did reveal a dedicated Stadia controller that comes with two additional buttons. Google Assistant button and share button. The controller has also built-in Wi-Fi functionality that allows it to connect directly to Google’s cloud server minimizing input lag. You can also choose to play on any device and use an Xbox One or PlayStation, among other controllers.
Google is working on bringing as many developers on board as possible but given the presence of few of them on stage, it’s safe to assume that developers like Ubisoft, ID Software and Tequila Works will be supporting the platform. They also confirmed exclusive games for the platform however no further details were shared for now.
Google promises good quality graphics in 1080p, 4K and even impressive 8K at 60 FPS. The reveal also shared specs of data-centers blades that all games will be running on and it looks like rumors of Google console being more powerful than Xbox One X was somewhat true. The difference is that there is no console to buy, you stream it instead.
Google Stadia Blade Specs:
- 2.7 GHz Multicore Hyper-Threaded CPU
- Custom AMD 10.7 TFlops GPU
- 16 GB HBM2 / 484 GB/s Bandwidth Memory
- SSD Storage
These specs are very impressive and should allow these games to run at the highest fidelity and 60 FPS. On top of that Google suggested that if developers choose to they will be able to utilize the power of multiple GPU’s at once giving them access to way more power than any other console may offer even next generation.
There are still a number of questions that need to be answered before the launch. What will be quality of the streaming video, will there be any artifacts and what about input lag. I am also curious about how incoming 5G technology could potentially improve game streaming in both latency and image quality department.
Even with all this power in the cloud, some may lose the battle with internet bandwidth or internet data caps. For the time being the best way to experience the games is still on local hardware and this may not even change in the future but Google’s vision of game streaming is an interesting one and sure will offer a much better experience than on under-powered PC or old cheap console.
Gamers will have yet another option in the way we play games and it’s launching as confirmed by Google later this year.
