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Google Stadia

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Stadia (/ˈsteɪdiə/ STAY-dee-ə)[1] is a cloud gaming service operated by Google. It is advertised to be capable of streaming video games up to 4K resolution at 60 frames per second with support for high-dynamic-range, to players via the company's numerous data centers across the globe, provided they are using a sufficiently high-speed Internet connection. It is accessible through the Google Chrome web browser on desktop computers, or through smartphones, tablets, smart televisions, digital media players, and Chromecast.[2]

Stadia

Mobile device running Mortal Kombat 11 on Stadia with official controller
DeveloperGoogle
Launch dateNovember 19, 2019; 5 years ago (2019-11-19)
Operating system(s)Cross-platform
Websitestadia.com

The service is integrated with YouTube, and its "state share" feature allows viewers of a Stadia stream to launch a game on the service on the same save state as the streamer. This has been used as a selling point for the service. It is compatible with HID class USB controllers, though a proprietary controller manufactured by Google with a direct Wi-Fi link to data centers is available alongside the service. Stadia is not similar to Netflix, in that it requires users to purchase games to stream via Stadia rather than pay for access to a library of games. While the base service will be free, a Pro tier monthly subscription allows users to stream at higher rates for larger resolutions, and the offer to add free games to their library.

Known in development as Project Stream, the service was debuted through a closed beta running Assassin's Creed Odyssey in October 2018. Stadia was publicly released on November 19, 2019 in selected countries and received a mixed reception from reviewers. The service competes with Sony's PlayStation Now service, Nvidia's GeForce Now, and Microsoft's Project xCloud.

Features

Stadia is a cloud gaming service,[3] and does not require additional computer hardware, only requiring the device to have an Internet connection and support for Google Chrome. Stadia works atop YouTube's functionality in streaming media to the user, as game streaming is seen as an extension of watching video game live streams, according to Google's Phil Harrison; the name "Stadia", plural of "stadium", is meant to reflect that it is a collection of entertainment, which the viewer can choose to sit back and watch, or take an active part in.[4] As Google had built out a large number of data centers across the globe, the company believes that Stadia is in a better position for cloud gaming compared to past endeavours like OnLive, PlayStation Now, and Gaikai, as most players would be geographically close to a data center. Stadia supports the streaming of games in HDR at 60 frames per second with 4K resolution, and anticipates eventually reaching 120 frames per second at 8K resolution.[4] Players can start games without having to download new content to their personal device. Players can opt to record or stream their sessions onto YouTube through Stadia. Viewers of such streams can launch the games directly from the stream with the same save state that they were just watching.[4] While Stadia can use any HID-class USB controller, Google developed its own controller which connects via Wi-Fi directly to the Google data center in which the game is running, to reduce input latency.[4] Google is also exploring further ways to reduce latency, using an idea called "negative latency" which involves prediction of user input through various means so that any apparent network lag between controller and game response is minimized.[5] During its GDC 2019 keynote reveal, Google confirmed that the controller would also feature Google Assistant, which will automatically search YouTube for relevant, helpful videos related to the game they are currently playing at the touch of a key.[6]

Stadia offers two tiers of service, a free Base level and a monthly subscription Pro level. The Pro tier costs approximately US$10 per month, but allows users to access higher streaming rates, access a library of free games over time, and get discounts on other games offered for Stadia.[7] Harrison stated they are also looking into offering publisher subscriptions and other models in the future;[8] for example, Ubisoft announced its Uplay Plus subscription service will be available to Stadia users.

The internet speed requirements for the different types of picture quality from Stadia's service is as follows:[9][10]

Bandwidth required Video quality Audio quality
10 MBit/s 720p, 60 FPS Stereo
20 MBit/s 1080p HDR Video, 60 FPS 5.1 Surround
35 MBit/s 4K HDR Video, 60 FPS 5.1 Surround

Hardware

Upon launch, Stadia's cloud hardware initially uses a custom Intel[11] x86 processor clocked at 2.7 GHz, with AVX2 and 9.5 megabytes of L2+L3 cache.[12] It also uses a custom AMD GPU based on the Vega architecture with HBM2 memory, 56 compute units, and 10.7 teraFLOPS.[12][13] The service also has solid-state drive storage, and 16 GB of RAM (supporting up to 484 GB/s bandwidth) shared between the GPU and the CPU.[12]

Google developed the controller for Stadia. The controller includes two thumbsticks, a directional pad, four main face buttons, two sets of shoulder buttons, and five additional controller face buttons. The controller has the capability of connection over a wireless network, rather than through the device that the user is playing on, as to reduce the latency of controller communication with Stadia services. The controller is available in a variation of four colors at its launch.[7]

Stadia initially launched in November 19, 2019 with a Founder's Pack, which included a Chromecast Ultra, a Stadia controller, three months of Pro service, and an additional three months of Pro service to gift to a friend.[7][14]

Software

Stadia is built on Debian Linux servers and Vulkan is their graphics API.[15][16]

"This [Stadia] starts with our platform foundations of Linux and Vulkan and shows in our selection of GPUs that have open-source drivers and tools. We’re integrating LLVM and DirectX Shader Compiler to ensure you get great features and performance from our compilers and debuggers."[15]

— Dov Zimring, Stadia Developer Platform Lead

Development

 
Stadia booth at the 2019 Game Developers Conference.

Project Stream was Google's first announced sign of interest in video gaming products. The company had previously been rumored as working on a service called Project Yeti since at least 2016. Google had also hired gaming industry executive Phil Harrison and was seen recruiting developers during industry events in 2018.[17] Project Stream's main differentiator from past services, such as OnLive, GeForce Now, and PlayStation Now, is its ability to run in any desktop Chrome browser, so no additional software needs to be installed.[18] The service uses AMD Radeon graphics hardware.[19] Internally, the service was developed around 2016's Doom to show that the proof-of-concept worked in realistic settings across the public internet.[20]

Google announced the service in October 2018[21] and soon after, opened invitations to beta testers with access to Assassin's Creed Odyssey. Players could apply for access and those who met an Internet speed minimum could run the game in their Chrome browsers.[22] Those who participated received a free copy of the game when the beta expired.[23] Stadia was formally announced during Google's keynote address at the 2019 Game Developers Conference in March 2019.[24] To support Stadia, Google also announced the formation of Stadia Games and Entertainment, with Jade Raymond as its lead. Besides developing their own games, Stadia Games and Entertainment will help support the transition of third-party titles to the Stadia service.[25]

Stadia launched in November 2019 in fourteen countries: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and at that time, limited to the Pro tier users. By 2020, Google plans to expand Stadia to more countries and bring free Base service online.

Games

Stadia requires users to purchase games to use over the service, though it offers a library of free games over time for Pro tier subscribers, as well as the first two years of Destiny 2 content for free for those who purchased the Founder's Pack.[7] At the time of the platform's full reveal in June 2019, Google announced that Gylt by Tequila Works and Get Packed by Moonshine Studios would be exclusive to Stadia.[26] The service launched with 22 games, and expected to add four more before the end of 2019.[27][28]

List of games on Stadia
Title Genre(s) Developer(s) Publisher(s) Stadia release date Original release date[a]
Assassin's Creed Odyssey Action role-playing Ubisoft Quebec Ubisoft November 19, 2019 October 5, 2018
Attack on Titan 2: Final Battle Hack and slash Omega Force Koei Tecmo November 19, 2019 March 15, 2018
Marvel's Avengers Action-adventure Crystal Dynamics Square Enix TBA May 15, 2020
Baldur's Gate III Action role-playing Larian Studios Wizards of the Coast TBA TBA
Borderlands 3 First-person shooter Gearbox Software 2K Games 2019 September 13, 2019
The Crew 2 Racing Ivory Tower Ubisoft TBA June 29, 2018
Cyberpunk 2077 Role-playing CD Projekt Red CD Projekt TBA April 16, 2020
Darksiders Genesis Action role-playing Airship Syndicate THQ Nordic December 5, 2019 December 5, 2019
Destiny 2 # First-person shooter Bungie Bungie November 19, 2019 September 6, 2017
Destroy All Humans! Action-adventure Black Forest Games THQ Nordic TBA TBA
Doom First-person shooter id Software Bethesda Softworks TBA May 13, 2016
Doom Eternal First-person shooter id Software Bethesda Softworks TBA March 20, 2020
Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 Fighting Dimps Bandai Namco Entertainment 2019 October 25, 2016
The Elder Scrolls Online MMORPG ZeniMax Online Studios Bethesda Softworks 2020 April 4, 2014
Farming Simulator 19 Simulation Giants Software Focus Home Interactive November 19, 2019 November 20, 2018
Final Fantasy XV Action role-playing Square Enix Square Enix November 19, 2019 November 29, 2016
Football Manager 2020 Business simulation Sports Interactive Sega November 19, 2019 November 18, 2019
Get Packed † Un­known Moonshine Studios Coatsink TBA TBA
Gods and Monsters[29] Action-adventure Ubisoft Quebec Ubisoft TBA TBA
Grid Racing Codemasters Codemasters November 19, 2019 October 11, 2019
Gylt † Un­known Tequila Works Un­known November 19, 2019 November 19, 2019
Just Dance 2020 Rhythm Ubisoft Paris Ubisoft November 19, 2019 November 5, 2019
Kine[30] Puzzle Gwen Frey Gwen Frey November 19, 2019 October 17, 2019
Metro Exodus First-person shooter 4A Games Deep Silver November 19, 2019 February 15, 2019
Monster Energy Supercross – The Official Videogame 3 Racing Milestone srl Milestone srl TBA February 4, 2020
Mortal Kombat 11 Fighting NetherRealm Studios Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment November 19, 2019 April 23, 2019
NBA 2K20 Sports Visual Concepts 2K Sports November 19, 2019 September 6, 2019
Orcs Must Die 3 † Tower defense Robot Entertainment Robot Entertainment TBA TBA
Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid Fighting nWay Games Lionsgate Games TBA March 26, 2019
Rage 2 First-person shooter Avalanche Studios, id Software Bethesda Softworks November 19, 2019 May 14, 2019
Red Dead Redemption 2[31] Action-adventure Rockstar Games Take-Two Interactive November 19, 2019 October 26, 2018
Rise of the Tomb Raider Action-adventure Crystal Dynamics Square Enix November 19, 2019 November 10, 2015
Samurai Shodown # Fighting SNK Athlon Games November 19, 2019 June 25, 2019
Shadow of the Tomb Raider Action-adventure Eidos Montréal Square Enix November 19, 2019 September 14, 2018
Superhot First-person shooter Superhot Team Superhot Team TBA February 26, 2016
Thumper Rhythm Drool Drool November 19, 2019 October 10, 2016
Tom Clancy's The Division 2 Third-person shooter Massive Entertainment Ubisoft TBA March 15, 2019
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint Tactical shooter Ubisoft Paris Ubisoft 2019 October 4, 2019
Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition Action-adventure Crystal Dynamics Square Enix November 19, 2019 January 14, 2014
Trials Rising Racing RedLynx, Ubisoft Kiev Ubisoft November 19, 2019 February 26, 2019
Untitled Q-Games game[32] Un­known Q-Games Un­known TBA TBA
Watch Dogs: Legion[33] Action-adventure Ubisoft Toronto Ubisoft April 1, 2020 April 1, 2020
Windjammers 2 Sports DotEmu DotEmu TBA TBA
Wolfenstein: Youngblood[34] First-person shooter MachineGames, Arkane Studios Bethesda Softworks November 19, 2019 July 26, 2019
  † Exclusive game for Stadia.
  # Free with paid subscription "Stadia Pro".

Reception

Pre-release

During its beta, the service received generally positive initial impressions from reviewers, who felt it met and in some instances, exceeded expectations[18][21][22] and could make game streaming appear as a potentially viable alternative to PC gaming,[21][22] however some minor discrepancies and technical issues were nonetheless noted.

Reviewers reported that the streaming service had low latency and felt as if the game was being played locally.[21][22] Despite this, depending on Wi-Fi speeds, the game sometimes compressed its screen resolution or lagged.[22] A test by The Verge found no lag issues over a wired ethernet connection, and occasional stuttering on a shared Wi-Fi connection.[22] However, even on a wired connection, the stream did not output at 4K resolution and occasionally went fuzzy with compression artifacting. The reviewer reported the best experience on Google's Chromebook Pixel.[22] Polygon found the service's audio compression noticeable.[21] Ars Technica remarked that Project Stream's login sequence was far simpler than that of other services.[18] Digital Foundry performed a hands-on with Assassin's Creed Odyssey on a Pixelbook on the service in Beta, and found that on the testing environment, latency seemed acceptable, but there was a noticeable visual hit. They also remarked that Assassin's Creed Odyssey was not the best example for testing, as it was already a natively laggy game.[35][b]

Post-release

Stadia received mixed reviews upon its release: Metacritic lists 0 extremely positive reviews, 8 positive reviews, 29 mixed reviews and 14 negative reviews.[37] Wired Magazine described the image quality as "drab", but admitted to preferring to play Destiny 2 on a Chromebook instead of a larger gaming laptop.[38] VentureBeat criticized the service's pricing model, comparing it unfavorably to subscription services such as Xbox Game Pass and claiming that Stadia "doesn't matter".[39] Digital Foundry found that the service was incapable of playing games at 4K resolutions: Red Dead Redemption 2 was found to only run at 1440p, and Destiny 2 ran at only 1080p (albeit at a frame rate higher than that of the console versions).[40] Digital Foundry also discovered that games like Red Dead Redemption 2 also struggled to maintain a consistent 60 frames per second, claiming that their test of the game on Chromecast only outputted a solid 30 FPS, while a test on the Chrome browser was an unstable 60 FPS that dropped frequently.[41] The Guardian gave Stadia three stars out of five, praising the service's technical performance, while criticising its game selection for being too old and only featuring one exclusive.[42] Ars Technica concluded: "Early adopters feel like they're getting a beta product here. Wait until next year to see if Google can work out the kinks and prove the service's longevity."[43] S&P Global Market Intelligence reported that: "Stadia met with tepid enthusiasm from analysts and early adopters who criticized the service's slate of launch titles and lack of promoted features".[44]

References

Notes

  1. ^ Date of first completed public release, regardless of platform or region.
  2. ^ Assassin's Creed Odyssey was originally designed for gameplay at 30 frames per second.[36]

Citations

  1. ^ "Stadia Connect 6 June 2019 – Pricing, Game Reveals, Launch Info & More" on YouTube
  2. ^ "Stadia FAQ". Stadia Help. Google. June 20, 2019. Retrieved July 1, 2019.
  3. ^ Techno, Highly. "Google's Stadia Gaming Platform". HighlyTechno. Shubham. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
  4. ^ a b c d Leadbetter, Richard (March 19, 2019). "The big interview: Phil Harrison and Majd Bakar on Google Stadia". Eurogamer. Retrieved March 19, 2019.
  5. ^ DeAngelis, Marc (October 10, 2019). "Google wants to reduce Stadia lag with 'negative latency'". Engadget. Retrieved October 10, 2019.
  6. ^ Bowers, Quintlyn (March 19, 2019). "Stadia's Wi-Fi Controller Looks Familiar, But Features Google Assistant". GameSkinny. Retrieved March 19, 2019.
  7. ^ a b c d Hollister, Sean (June 6, 2019). "Google's Stadia game service is officially coming November: Everything you need to know". The Verge. Retrieved June 6, 2019.
  8. ^ Castle, Katherine (June 9, 2019). "Google Stadia's getting publisher subscriptions on top of Stadia Pro". Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved June 9, 2019.
  9. ^ "Stadia Founder's Edition". Google Store. Archived from the original on June 26, 2019. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
  10. ^ "Speedtest". Google Store. Archived from the original on June 26, 2019. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
  11. ^ Hruska, Joel (March 25, 2019). "Google Stadia is powered by Intel, not AMD". ExtremeTech. Retrieved March 26, 2019.
  12. ^ a b c Lilly, Paul (March 19, 2019). "Google Stadia's specs and latency revealed". PC Gamer. Retrieved March 26, 2019.
  13. ^ Subramaniam, Vaidyanathan. "Google Stadia uses a custom AMD Vega 56 GCN 1.5 GPU". Notebookcheck. Retrieved October 30, 2019.
  14. ^ Hollister, Sean (October 15, 2019). "Google's Stadia cloud gaming service will launch on November 19th". The Verge. Retrieved October 15, 2019.
  15. ^ a b "Welcome to Stadia". Retrieved May 6, 2019.
  16. ^ "Stadia Is Google's Cloud Gaming Service Using Linux, Vulkan & A Custom AMD GPU". phoronix.com. Retrieved May 6, 2019.
  17. ^ Amadeo, Ron (October 1, 2018). "Google announces 'Project Stream'—a 'test' of game streaming in Chrome". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on December 25, 2018. Retrieved January 1, 2019.
  18. ^ a b c Machkovech, Sam (October 9, 2018). "Google's Project Stream: That's really a full Assassin's Creed in my browser". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on October 11, 2018. Retrieved January 1, 2019.
  19. ^ Takahashi, Dean (January 9, 2019). "Google's Project Stream cloud gaming will use AMD Radeon Graphics". VentureBeat. Retrieved January 13, 2019.
  20. ^ How DOOM Helped Convince Google That Stadia Would Work – IGN First. IGN. November 8, 2019. Retrieved November 8, 2019 – via YouTube.
  21. ^ a b c d e Goslin, Austen (October 8, 2018). "Streaming Assassin's Creed Odyssey in Google Chrome is surprisingly great". Polygon. Archived from the original on December 17, 2018. Retrieved January 1, 2019.
  22. ^ a b c d e f g Etienne, Stefan (October 8, 2018). "Google's Project Stream is a working preview of the future of game streaming". The Verge. Archived from the original on December 26, 2018. Retrieved January 1, 2019.
  23. ^ Good, Owen S. (December 15, 2018). "Get free Assassin's Creed Odyssey on PC for testing Google's Project Stream". Polygon. Archived from the original on December 23, 2018. Retrieved January 1, 2019.
  24. ^ Wilde, Tyler (March 19, 2019). "Google announces Stadia, a game streaming service 'for everyone'". PC Gamer. Retrieved March 19, 2019.
  25. ^ Chalk, Andy (March 19, 2019). "Jade Raymond is heading Google's first-party game studio". PC Gamer. Retrieved March 19, 2019.
  26. ^ Warren, Tom (June 6, 2019). "Here are all the games coming to Google's Stadia cloud streaming service". The Verge. Retrieved June 8, 2019.
  27. ^ Romano, Sal (November 11, 2019). "Stadia launch lineup announced". Gematsu. Retrieved November 11, 2019.
  28. ^ Prescott, Shaun (November 16, 2019). "The Google Stadia launch line-up has nearly doubled". PC Gamer. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
  29. ^ @GoogleStadia (June 12, 2019). "#GodsandMonsters, the new adventure game from the creators of Assassin's Creed Odyssey, is coming to Stadia! #UbiE3" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  30. ^ "Games on Stadia". Stadia Help. Google. Retrieved September 15, 2019.
  31. ^ Romano, Sal (October 4, 2019). "Red Dead Redemption 2 coming to PC on November 5, Stadia at launch". Gematsu. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
  32. ^ Thier, David (March 20, 2019). "All 3 Games Confirmed For Google Stadia". Forbes. Archived from the original on March 21, 2019. Retrieved March 21, 2019. Assassin's Creed Odyssey was the test case for Project Stream, and people have already played a remote version of this game in a web browser. [...] Google confirmed that Dylan Cuthbert's Q-Games would be building a game around the "state share" feature that will allow you to instantly start playing a game at the same moment as a Youtube video or a live Youtube stream. [...] it's hired AAA gaming industry very Jade Raymond to head up a studio called Stadia Games and Entertainment.
  33. ^ Harrison, Phil [@MrPhilHarrison] (June 10, 2019). "Watchdogs Legion coming to #Stadia thanks to @Ubisoft in March 2020" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  34. ^ Techno, Highly. "Google's Stadia Gaming Platform". store.google.com. Mayur. Retrieved June 6, 2019.
  35. ^ "Google Stadia hands-on: streaming analysis and controller impressions". Eurogamer. March 19, 2019. Retrieved March 24, 2019. Assassin's Creed Odyssey is perhaps not the best example for testing, as it's natively a fairly laggy game, so it will be interesting to test faster 60fps titles (...) Stadia is perfectly playable and presentable here, but it's clear that there is a noticeable visual hit when the encoder is presented with more a more detail-rich, fast-moving scene process.
  36. ^ Katharine Castle (April 23, 2018). "Assassin's Creed Odyssey PC graphics performance: How to get the best settings". Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved December 10, 2019.
  37. ^ Dietz, Jason (November 18, 2019). "Cloud Gaming Service Review: Google Stadia". Metacritic. Retrieved December 9, 2019.
  38. ^ https://www.wired.com/review/google-stadia/
  39. ^ https://venturebeat.com/2019/11/18/google-stadia-review-it-works-but-so-what/
  40. ^ https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2019-stadia-tech-review
  41. ^ https://twitter.com/digitalfoundry/status/1196551514896162816?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1196551514896162816&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmspoweruser.com%2Fgoogle-stadia-red-dead-redemption-2-doesnt-run-at-a-stable-60fps%2F
  42. ^ Hern, Alex (November 18, 2019). "Google Stadia review – the console vanishes from video gaming". The Guardian. Retrieved November 20, 2019.
  43. ^ Orland, Kyle (November 18, 2019). "Google Stadia launch review: Gaming's "future" looks rough in the present". Ars Technica. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
  44. ^ Halder, Anser (November 21, 2019). "Google's new Stadia platform faces muted reception tied to game launch slate". S&P Global Market Intelligence. Retrieved December 9, 2019.

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