Google pushes online gaming industry with its Stadia
26 Mar 2019
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Google is all set to roll out its online gaming system Stadia that would make current gaming boxes like Sony’s PlayStation, Nintendo’s Wii and Microsoft’s Xbox obsolete. The cloud-based Stadia gaming platform, unveiled at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) could be the future of gaming itself.
Like the internet, the future of gaming is also online as the current system of play stations has been functioning within limits, adding more graphics, and functionality of the boxes. Google is set to change all this.
On Thursday, Google announced that it would soon be rolling out its online gaming system called Stadia, which would turn potentially any device—laptop, mobile, desktop—into a gaming system, without the need of having higher computing or graphics processing power.
Instead of a console, Google’s Stadia would use a cloud platform to do all the processing online, with the devices requiring only a fast internet connection. Also, as everybody cannot purchase a $300 machine, online accessibility would allow more people to access high quality gaming.
“The future of gaming is not a box,” according to Google. “It’s a place.” Just like how humans have built stadiums for sports over hundreds of years, Google believes it’s building a virtual stadium, aptly dubbed Stadia, for the future of games to be played anywhere.
All you need is access to Google’s Chrome browser to instantly play games on a phone, tablet, PC, or TV.
The Stadia premise is that a gamer can launch a game instantly after watching a clip of hop on to the game instantly while watching it online.
Streamers will be able to create lobbies for fans to join and play with them on YouTube, and Stadia will support instant clipping to the video service. This is a game console running in the cloud and built for the YouTube generation, and it’s Google’s big push here.
Chrome also plays a big role as Google’s dominant web browser. Stadia will only be available through Chrome, Chromecast, and on Android devices initially. Google has promised more browsers in the future, but it’s not clear when this will arrive. Google only demonstrated the service on its own devices, and there was no mention of iOS support through a dedicated app or Apple’s Safari mobile browser.
With higher internet speeds and cheap availability of smartphones, Google expects to make its mark in another area of technology, while also challenging Microsoft’s and Sony’s monopoly over the field.
Mobile games like PUBG and Fortnite have already changed the gaming landscape and the online gaming industry has a combined user base of over 300 million now. Google is trying to make it more accessible to the common man.
