written by owen on 2019-Apr-11.

Stadia was launched recently in the usual "lets throw it out there and see how many bored techies will hype it up". The claim is that it will allow gaming on any device (phone/laptop/desktop/washing machine) with "no hardware acceleration" which is a lie because browsing the web or watching video in a browser at any resolution above 480p requires some form of modern graphics card or you get a slideshow. The next big feature is allowing developers to write custom "cloud games" because console hardware is holding game developers back. lol I am not sure what is holding them back or back from what? world domination?

Stadia is going to "#change #gaming" seems to be the hashtag but these pundits have not finished a full game in 10 years and probably spend all their time re-spawning constantly in fortnite. Their brain is hooked on the unpredictability of game, the actual game itself is pretty repetitive. There are too many games and not enough time to play them. VR gaming is never going to get better. No matter how hard you pray. Stadia comes with high internet requirements and If you can afford to pay for the internet then you can more than afford buying games on other platforms. So the target make for this is kinda confusing but there are other issues;

All games should be cheap/free

I wish I could buy 5 BMWs but I cannot afford to buy everything I want or need. I would not even rent a BMW because renting is for people who never learn to buy. It is the same with video games just because they are expensive does not mean that they should cheap. If somehow they become cheap then it is some form of trap. If they can't catch you with $59.99 they will catch you with $9.99 a month for 10 years until you realize that you are wasting your time playing trash games instead of buying and playing only the good ones you like. Playing only the games you like is cheaper and gives you more fulfillment. Variety may be the spice of life but you cannot survive eating cinnamon alone.

Hidden Costs

The cost its not just $9.99, you have add the cost of internet into the mix - thats what? Roughly $50 a month? There has never been a more exciting time to be a developer - slaveSo you paying $9.99 for Stadia, $50 for internet and $2 per game to rent it per month? $60 a month to play fifa. While you watching advertisements between every match, lol. I dont see the costs netting out at all. At least console FIFA only releases a new copy every year. On Stadia they can release a new version every month - they could even sell you DLC teams that are priced based on real time ranking. The possibilities for micro transactions are endless.

Better graphics on the cloud

We have been chasing the graphics monster since the 90s. PS1 games are pretty much trash if you try to play them now. We had the Xbox360 red ring of death issue because we ran the consoles too hot. Now consoles use 8 gigs of RAM a jump from 256 mb the last generation. Game consoles use as much electricity as desktop PCs. Games are getting more expensive to make because they require more 3d art. We are basically playing 70s pacman with better graphics. Now we want to jump to the cloud so we can get better graphics - everything else be dammed.

Virtual Goods

I see people selling PS4 and Xbox accounts with 15 DLC games bought online. lol. Why try to sell your virtual trash unto someone else? Just keep it or give it away. It is so easy to buy games as DLC so no one wants to buy your crappy virtual game collection with 4 copies of FIFA and 3 Cod games. Luckily Stadia will certainly save these people some money in the short term but they will spend more money keeping the service active even when they get bored with it - too many options. There wont be a console gathering dust under your tv to remind you of wasted money - it will only be a monthly line on your bank statement - dust free but ever present. The good thing with Stadia from my point of view is that when these people finally realize that there are wasting their money and time then they will have nothing to re-sell so no more threads online trying to sell virtual goods that have no real value.

All that is old is new again

We are slowly going back to the days of blockbuster and game arcades where you rent videos games or you put a coin into a machine to play. The popular arcade games would cost more because more people wanted to play them so the arcade owner would bump up the price of the tokens. We stopped doing that when home consoles came around and we could pay a set price for our games and play them forever. In a arcade setup some times your favourite game would disappear because it was not drawing a big enough crowd. This will be the reality of gaming on Stadia: most games will be made as multiplayer first - battle royale or mobile trash because developers will avoid less profitable genres. Profitability will be tied to popularity or some other blackbox ranking system or A.I. or whatever.

Conclusion

I personally would rather not be totally dependent on something I have to pay for monthly for my entertainment. And you certainly know that advertisement are going to be inserted directly into your games if the service takes off. It will no longer be about what games you like to play but what games work best as multiplayer. Consoles bring diversity to gaming. Platforms like these are only interested in keeping you hooked on the fear of missing out. If you cancel your subscription - you will miss out. Bad habits that cost money are the worst kind of habit to pickup.

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