Google Stadia’s Launch Is a Flop
After months of hyping it up, Google’s cloud-based gaming software, Stadia, launched with a pretty big flop.
Since gaming via streaming is getting some buzz right now, there was some genuine excitement about the prospect of a full gaming experience with no console; the only hardware is the controller. This move from hardware to software seems like it may be more of the future of streaming rather than the present reality.
Reviews have generally all sounded similar
- “it’s not worth it” … yet — Gene Park of Washington Post
- “Google Stadia wants you to replace your video game console. Don’t” — Brian Chen of New York Times
- “It’s effectively a beta that Google is charging real money for” — Sean Hollister from The Verge.
So basically, people don’t think that it’s totally hopeless. They just think that it has a long way to go and probably wasn’t ready to be launched as it currently stands.
Even with a strong internet connection that meets their bandwidth standards, the performance is highly inconsistent when on a WiFi network. Though people have said that it is good when connected to an Ethernet, that’s just not how most people connect to the internet now. When on WiFi, the connection is constantly interrupted and the quality dips in and out.
The $130 price tag just seems entirely too much to consumers, especially since premium games aren’t even included in this price.
Try again, Google.
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