During the GDC 2019 Keynote today, Google revealed their much awaited gaming platform and streaming system.
Stadia is ‘a new gaming platform from Google for playing AAA video games across all kinds of screens’.
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Google Stadia platform allows gamers to seamlessly play across multiple devices, including laptops, desktops, and select phones and tablets.
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Cloud infrastructure built with players, streamers, and YouTube creators in mind.
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Will launch sometime in 2019 starting in the United States, Canada, the UK, and some of Europe.
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You can sign up for updates from Google here, but the price/cost for this service has not been announced yet.
Sundar Pichai announcing Google Stadia – Photo: Google GDC 2019 Stream
How the Stadia Platform Works
Rather than downloading and updating games, Stadia is a streaming platform where you access the games online. You can enjoy games up to 4K HDR at 60fps. However; because this is a streaming platform, your gameplay experience could vary greatly depending on your internet connection.
Connected across devices – Photo: Google GDC Stream
Google’s Phil Harrison shows off the potential of Stadia during the keynote presentation. They worked to find the ‘least powerful PC they could find’ touting that they could ‘enjoy the same quality regardless of the hardware they are using’.
From phone to tablet to PC and laptop, users are able to jump right back into the game at the exact same place with minimal quality differences.
Phil Harrison of Google showing all the ways you can play – Photo: Google GDC Stream
Stadia Controller
The Stadia Controller has a unique ‘Capture Button’ which allows you to instantly capture and share your gameplay. You can share clips to Youtube, send to friends, and more.
Streaming and Entertainment
It appears that a major goal of Google’s Stadia is to increase the activity of gamers and livestreamers on Youtube.
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200M+ logged-in daily users watching gaming videos
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50B+ hours of gaming content watched in 2018
In the keynote, Google mentions that Stadia will give creators new ways to monetize their content and connect more closely with their fans.
They also aim to break down the barrier of entry for aspiring creators with the ability to highlight, capture, and livestream directly from Stadia.
Stadia Crowd Play feature allows people to click a button in the stream and jump in to play with Youtube Creators that you’re watching. You can literally click a link to join a new lobby and get in line to play with your favorite streamer.
Youtube Stats for the gaming community – Photo: Google GDC Stream