Google Stadia and the Future of Games

by Liam Rust

The logo for Google Stadia, and part of the Stadia controller on the right.

Last week, at the Game Developers Conference, Google announced Stadia, their venture into the gaming market. It takes a different approach from most other companies, though. It's not a console, where the games and the hardware is local. Instead, it's like the Netflix of video games. All a person needs is a computer or phone with an internet connection and a subscription to Stadia. Then, they can choose from a selection of games and play. The actual game is run on Google's servers. This allows anyone, no matter the strength of their computer, to play the latest and greatest games, and for a lot less money than buying a PC or console and buying games.

The Stadia controllers.

There is also a Stadia controller, that has special features such as a Google Assistant, which Google claims will be able to help you in games. For example, if you are stuck on a certain puzzle, you can press the button and ask the Assistant for help, and it will pull up a YouTube tutorial for it.

Google isn't the first to try this streaming idea. NVIDIA has a similar service called SHIELD TV, which is basically the same idea. with the game being run on a server. They also have GeForce Now, which is similar, but instead of being able to play from a vast library of games, you have to purchase each individual game.

These services raise some interesting questions for the future of playing games, because it changes gaming as a whole. No longer do you need to buy games, or have the hardware that can play those games. So, will people buy games in the future, or will they just subscribe to a service to play? And, since the game is on a server somewhere and not your own hardware, who owns the actual data in the games - the user, or the server host? Will desktop computers and consoles eventually become basically obsolete?

Needless to say, it'll be interesting to see where the industry is headed, and what will happen to traditional console and PC gaming as streaming becomes more widespread. Streaming might be a flop, and people might go back to playing locally. Or, it might be embraced, and the market will be changed forever.