Stadia is here and we still don’t know if cloud gaming is just a bluff
Google’s latest launch was, for many, incomplete and rushed. Meanwhile, XCloud is coming, PlayStation Now braces for impact, and Apple Arcade does its own thing.
In March, when Google announced Stadia, the utopia of cloud gaming sounded almost too good to be true: being able to play triple-A games in high definition from any device and on the cloud, that is, without having the hardware or downloading anything.
On November 19 a first version of Stadia officially came out, and the big question of whether this project would actually work still has no clear answer. Many reviews speak of a significant latency that makes playing on TV sets and computers hard or nearly impossible. On Google Pixel phones, however, it seems to run quite well.
The other objection is the price, since the Founder’s Edition is 129 dollars. Besides the privilege of being one of the first to try Stadia, it buys you a Chromecast Ultra device to use on a television, a wireless controller and three months’ subscription. After that it will cost 10 dollars a month, plus between 20 and 60 for each title. Out of the current catalogue, of 22 games, only two are free and most aren’t even exclusive.
In 2020 Stadia will offer a free service, where you pay per game, and a Pro version where 10 dollars a month guarantee 4K quality with HDR. The controller is sold separately for 70 dollars.
With all this in mind, Stadia seems interesting for someone who wants to delve into video games without investing in hardware, but for the time being it doesn’t really make sense if you own a console, for example.
The general impression is that the launch was hasty and feels incomplete. Besides technical problems that need to be solved (like the lag and image quality), several of Stadia’s features haven’t been deployed yet, such as voice chat, captures, access to Google Assistant, integration with YouTube and cross platform play. But, as some point out, several of Google’s big products also had ambitious and messy beginnings, from Android to YouTube.
One week earlier, Microsoft announced at the X019 conference that at some point in 2020 XCloud will be released with a catalogue of 50 games. It’s now in beta, for Android, but later it will be available for PCs with Windows and iOS. It will also be integrated to Xbox Game Pass, a library of games, all for 10 dollars a month.
Sony and its PlayStation Now seemed to lead this race, since up until now it was the only cloud gaming service that was actually working, with over 800 games available to stream on PS4 or PCs, and in some cases download to a PlayStation.
It’s worth noting that PlayStation Now was originally meant to work on TVs and phones as well, but in time quietly cut down its offer. Last month the service dropped its price from 20 to 10 dollars, and has vowed to increase image quality from 720 p to at least 1080p.
The other big contender that surely influenced this price cut is Apple Arcade, a game subscription service that came out in September.
For 5 dollars a month users have access to over 100 games, whit no ads or additional purchases, to use from any Apple device. The games aren’t particularly sophisticated but their quality and variety was widely praised. It’s a solid, attractive pitch for casual-ish gamers that like trying new things all the time, and also for children and teens, since the games will never ask for more money.
At the end of the day, each service has their advantages and strong points and, being quite new, they will surely get better in time. While the adventurous early adopters rush to test (and criticize) these releases before anyone else, most people patiently wait to see what will be worth the money once the dust settles. Sooner or later, one of these companies will be able to offer a nice, affordable, fun service.
