Google Stadia is a new big thing for game localization. Or not.

Slator has published an interesting article in which Google’s new cloud gaming service Stadia, Apple Arcade, and other services are compared to Netflix. It’s a good idea, but I’m not sure about the article’s conclusions, and I’ll try to explain why.

In the beginning, Netflix provided users with a way to watch legal video content (movies, TV shows, etc.) and gave them access to a huge catalog of videos based on an innovative subscription model. Most movies are about an hour and a half to three hours long, so we can watch a new one every day if we want to.

However, if you beat a video game in just three hours, you won’t be happy at all. Some gamers have spent their entire gaming lives on a single game — World of Tanks is a good example of this. This is why most of us don’t really need a subscription to an unlimited list of games.

Could the subscription model become an innovation in the games industry? Well, Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, and other platform owners already offer subscriptions that grant access to online and free games, discounts, and certain other features. These subscriptions aren’t about game libraries; they’re about access to exclusive content.

Will gamers want to play their games on phones, PCs, and others devices? Well, you can play The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim this way, but I don’t think most people would enjoy playing in GTA V on an iPhone.

Do we have a problem with buying games online? Yes, because there are so many different shops and platforms. 😊

The author of the article said that Stadia saved him 500 GB of disc space. Well, an external HDD or SD card would be even better, and he’d have gotten another 500 GB for free.

In its current state, it seems like Stadia is trying to solve problems of spherical gamers in Google.

Stadia doesn’t seem like a platform for new game IP or a new consumer model, so don’t expect new developers or new localizations.

But when it comes to exclusive content for mobile gamers, it’s an interesting story that’s still in development. Stay tuned.