Yesterday was a big day in the tech world because Google gave their much anticipated keynote at the Game Developers Conference (GDC), give the whole thing a watch here. After it was announced that they would be delivering the keynote, the internet erupted with clamor about what they might be doing. At first, it was mildly puzzing to many why Google would even try to get started in this market given that they haven’t really ventured into it before and all the other players in the game are so thoroughly established. However, it makes sense that Google would want a piece of a nearly $150 billion market which is only growing faster and faster year over year. And as arguably the biggest tech giant in the world, Google has the resources and infrastructure to make something truly great.
This is especially true for cloud based gaming, which is evidently what Google is targeting. Cloud based gaming has been a building trend for years with major players from Microsoft to Nvidia putting their foot in the door. The way it works is that you would connect to a server in some server farm somewhere which would load and run the game you wanted while you sent input and received video via the internet. This allows you to get consistent and quality frame rates at high resolutions without having to buy an expensive gaming computer. It means you can theoretically play on any device and that you don’t have to worry about any of the complications of owning or operating the expensive components of a complex gaming rig. You can just pay per month for this game streaming service and get a solid experience, no hassle. It can also be thought of as a way to level the playing field in competitive games, given that everyone has a strong and stable internet connection, which is the only limiting reactant in this system. As internet technology has gotten more stable and high speed internet more ubiquitous, this technology has given given room to grow.
What exactly did Google unveil yesterday, though? They call it Stadia and they want it to revolutionize gaming. Take a look at their website for it. As I said, this type of platform is right in Google’s wheelhouse and with Stadia, they might be poised to ignite a change in the gaming industry which hasn’t been seen since the advent of the smartphone. Google has the cloud infrastructure rivaled perhaps only by Amazon’s AWS (according to a Verge article I’ll link here and mention later). Further, because Google has one of the largest browsers in the world and one of the largest mobile operating systems in the world, they are able to implement their whole service through Chrome. You can also instantly switch between platforms, just pick up your phone or Chromebook or computer and you’ll find the game right where you left off. Google also released a new controller for Stadia which looks very familiar but has some interesting features, like how it connects directly to the server via Wi-Fi instead of connecting to the computer which the game is being played on. It also has a couple buttons you won’t find elsewhere, one to connect to Google Assistant for all the things it can do including give help to players who might be stuck on a level or want more information about the game they’re playing. The other button is for sharing clips quickly and seamlessly with YouTube. It is Stadia’s connection to YouTube that this Verge article (same one from before) really finds interesting. I find the idea presented in that article extremely compelling. If you scrolled through and feel like you’d prefer a TLDR, I’ll give it a shot.
Essentially, they argue that Google isn’t in this to take over the gaming market. Instead, Google is just protecting YouTube. That is why they are only launching the service with one game and they spent more time talking about the service’s connections than it did on the gameplay. They even brought out a YouTuber who talked about how this is going to make the connection between YouTuber and viewer much more interesting and make it easier for content creators to connect to their consumers. The article points out some of the mind boggling statistics about viewership, specifically of game content, on YouTube and Twitch, which present extremely persuasive reasons why they should not let YouTube’s dominance slip away. I mean, just check out this promo video from the Stadia team.
I’m excited to see how the gaming industry changes and hope that a bit more competition, especially from a giant like Google makes the experience for gamers cheaper and more enjoyable as a whole. Google hopes to fully release Stadia within the year and plans on expanding the set of games available to players very soon.
