Google Announces New Gaming-Streaming Service: ‘Google Stadia’

Google Stadia (Image courtesy of Google)

With E3 being the biggest get-together for gaming and other sort of electronic entertainment, Google has announced a new video game streaming service called Google Stadia. All you need is basically a smartphone, PC or Chromecast. The program will heavily rely on a cloud-based save system to stream games directly to your device, just as you would stream a tv show or movie on something like Netflix, Hulu or Youtube. Google Stadia will be at supreme performance levels and could potentially be better than the consoles on the market right now.

Google Stadia will need a rather strong internet connection to reach the best quality, as its running on a cloud-based data system, which means no downloads, which can be a good and a bad thing. For instance, you won’t be able to use your service on the go most likely, but you can switch games just as quickly as you can TV shows on any other streaming platform. Stadia is available in 4K as well.

According to CNBC, “Cloud gaming will be front and center of many discussions at E3 as the industry adapts to the changing business models,” Candice Mudrick told CNBC by email, who is the head of analysis at industry research group Newzoo.

Google Stadia has an immense amount of potential, but will take some convincing to the more conservative gamers that are used to their consoles with discs and downloads. In due time, Stadia will be well compared to its competitors such as Xbox, Playstation and a normal PC.

Stadia will also have its own exclusive games that you can only get with the service that other consoles won’t be able to obtain and sell. According to Business Insider, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said that the service will also offer major blockbuster games on any of the able devices, including games from high-profile franchises like Borderlands, Ghost Recon, Doom and more.

Google Stadia can be pre-ordered for $129 to play for its first three months. It will be a subscription-based service, with a free version that will launch in February 2020.