Game Streaming Platforms and Technology (xCloud, PSNow, GeforceNow, Luna) (Rip: Stadia)

[Alucardx23]

We had this problem where consoles used to not have BC. Nowdays they do. Imagine buying ps5 and not being able to play any ps4 games. And no need to imagine not being able to play ps3 and ps2 games which kind of sucks as I would rather like to play mgs2,3,4 which I did buy in the past. I didn't mean to badmouth google, I just gave the 2 points people consider as negatives when talking about stadia.

I understand what you are saying, but there is a difference between being able to play games from an older library of games, of the same family of consoles, than saying that it is a problem you cannot play your PS5 games on the Xbox Series X. Taking your example, what should not happen is for Google to release something called Stadia 2 and not allow you to play the games you purchased for the current version of Stadia there.

 

[manux]

I understand what you are saying, but there is a difference between being able to play games from an older library of games, of the same family of consoles, than saying that it is a problem you cannot play your PS5 games on the Xbox Series X. Taking your example, what cannot happen is for Google to release something called Stadia 2 and not allow you to play the games you purchased for the current version of Stadia there.

I don't think that is an issue. People understand that part of business. People are ok. at getting locked in as shown by iphone, android, playstation, xbox, windows, mac, linux,... It's the flaky nature of google as it comes to services. I would be hesitant to trust google to keep stadia around as I burnt my fingers with wave, google plus and other things google ultimately killed.

 

[Alucardx23]

I don't think that is an issue. People understand that part of business. People are ok. at getting locked in as shown by iphone, android, playstation, xbox, windows, mac, linux,... It's the flaky nature of google as it comes to services. I would be hesitant to trust google to keep stadia around as I burnt my fingers with wave, google plus and other things google ultimately killed.

You said it yourself, "Some of us would prefer to carry over our steam catalogue and not double buy games.". For Stadia, people seem to describe it as a problem that they cannot play the games they purchased on other platforms, but they don't apply the same rule to other platforms. You also mentioned another very common observation people make about Stadia. They usually share this link https://killedbygoogle.com/, to make the point of how Google will kill Stadia in 6 months or a year. But here's the thing, there is also this link from Microsoft, https://www.versionmuseum.com/history-of/discontinued-microsoft-products. How many people have you seen making the point that Microsoft will Xbox any time now? I personally prefer to judge everything individually and measure if things are improving or getting worse. Stadia just became available on 8 other countries yesterday, they also added YouTube streaming, among a bunch of other features for the service. There has been a constant improvement for Stadia, on regards to features and the game library, and that should reflect on the amount of people that access the service.

 

[BRiT]

If you buy a game on Stadia you don't have to pay a monthly fee to play it. What Stadia Pro gets you is around 3 to 8 games you can claim every month, as well as access to 4K, HDR and 5.1 sound.

So if you want to play the games you bought in 4K, HDR, or 5.1 surround sound then you have to pay the monthly service cost too?

 

[manux]

You said it yourself, "Some of us would prefer to carry over our steam catalogue and not double buy games.". For Stadia, people seem to describe it as a problem that they cannot play the games they purchased on other platforms, but they don't apply the same rule to other platforms. You also mentioned another very common observation people make about Stadia. They usually share this link https://killedbygoogle.com/. To make the point of how Google will kill Stadia in 6 months or a year. But here's the thing, there is also this link from Microsoft, https://www.versionmuseum.com/history-of/discontinued-microsoft-products. How many people have you seen making the point that Microsoft will Xbox any time now? I personally prefer to judge everything individually and measure if things are improving or getting worse. Stadia just became available on 8 other countries yesterday, they also added YouTube streaming, among a bunch of other features for the service. There has been a constant improvement for Stadia, on regards to features and the game library, and that should reflect on the amount of people that access the service.

I have steam library built over 10+ years. For me it's highly preferable to be able to play my existing games. If I cannot play my existing games I will just stay using pc and stadia is not an realistic option. I'm not saying everyone is like this. You asked what the hesitation there is and this is a legit reason for some people to prefer something like geforce now over stadia. I could easily see playing something like civ5 or baldurs gateII or,... over geforce now using thin and light laptop when I'm travelling. My investment to cloud would be month to month when I'm not at home, not a continuous subscription for full year.

 

[Alucardx23]

So if you want to play the games you bought in 4K, HDR, or 5.1 surround sound then you have to pay the monthly service cost too?

That is correct. If that is too much for you, then just pretend you have a 1080P console or don't use the service at all. Personally I see $10 as something easier to pay than the cost of building a PC with the same amount of power a Stadia instance has, but your opinion could vary on that. My expectation is that Stadia will also eventually update their hardware at no additional cost. Maybe we will see them removing the $10 barrier to play 4K games in the future, but maybe not.

 

[manux]

That is correct. If that is too much for you, then just pretend you have a 1080P console or don't use the service at all. Personally I see $10 as something easier to pay than the cost of building a PC with the same amount of power a Stadia instance has, but your opinion could vary on that. My expectation is that Stadia will also eventually update their hardware at no additional cost. Maybe we will see them removing the $10 barrier to play 4K games in the future, but maybe not.

Btw. geforce now is 5$/month and there is a free tier that limits session time to 1hour. I don't think the price will last forever but it is what it is today. It's a good choice for those who want to buy games on pc and just pay for machine in the cloud.

 

[Alucardx23]

I have steam library built over 10+ years. For me it's highly preferable to be able to play my existing games. If I cannot play my existing games I will just stay using pc and stadia is not an realistic option. I'm not saying everyone is like this. You asked what the hesitation there is and this is a legit reason for some people to prefer something like geforce now over stadia. I could easily see playing something like civ5 or baldurs gateII or,... over geforce now using thin and light laptop when I'm travelling. My investment to cloud would be month to month when I'm not at home, not a continuous subscription for full year.

I can understand that, I also have around 300+ games on Steam. I'm specifically talking about someone saying something like "It is a problem I cannot play my Steam library on Stadia.", but doesn't say "It is a problem I cannot play my PS5 library or Steam library on the Xbox Series X.". Of course I would prefer just buying a game once and then play it anywhere where that game is available, but as I said, my observation is about people not having a consistent opinion when talking about Stadia vs other platforms. Like I said, if someone decides to play a game on Stadia, they will do so because they enjoy the benefits of the platform.

I also use Geforce Now for some games, but my problem with that service is that getting to play a game is a lot less fluid compared to Stadia, this is something I'm sure they will improve eventually, but that is how it is right now. It doesn't have to be one or the other. All of these services are evolving and in 2 years time Geforce Now might be my main cloud gaming platform, but so far Stadia seems to be the only fully dedicated cloud gaming platform, with a lot more fluid UI and with games being developed 100% to take advantage of what is possible. We should see those games in around 1 to 2 years.

 

[Alucardx23]

Btw. geforce now is 5$/month and there is a free tier that limits session time to 1hour. I don't think the price will last forever but it is what it is today. It's a good choice for those who want to buy games on pc and just pay for machine in the cloud.

They describe that as the introduction price, so it would seem like it will increase in time. I bought The Division 2 on Stadia for $3.49 and I can play it for an unlimited amount of time. It's good to have options, because not every solution will be the best one for each case. Stadia is also starting to add free to play games. Without paying a single dollars anyone with access to the service can start playing Destiny 2 or Bomberman and there is no limit to the amount of hours you can play.

 

[Shompola]

I don't see what is the problem with Stadia's business model. See below for some games I recently purchased.

There are potentially hundreds of hours of entertainment there and I don't have to pay ever again a $10 or $15 monthly fee to play them. If Stadia was only a subscription service, I wouldn't be able to play Cyberpunk for example, where is that game available under a subscription?

What Stadia needs to do is to continue to expand the library of games and expand the number of games you can claim under the Pro subscription. They have so far done a great job doing that, but there is still room to improve. There is no reason why they need to take away options, there can be the option to buy individual games, as well as a subscription option with a library of games you can play.

Hi,

But I think the business model is not working out well for them? I mean it is very good you are satisfied with their business model, more power to you! But in my case I would rather it be like gamepass but in cloud or as some other one said that their steam library to be accessible for a small monthly fee. Google should have reality cooperated with someone, be it EPIC, Valve or some one else who could provide the game library without Google doing deals per game case which I don't think is working well for them I am afraid. When this streaming business really takes off in a couple of years I can see both EPIC and Valve doing something about it.. why would Google not take the opportunity now and do some deal with them before someone else does or they do their own thing. But maybe Valve and EPIC simple do not want to give Google that advantage either.. I don't know how these cooperations think/work

 

[Alucardx23]

Well I think it would be good if Stadia was integrated to some extent with one of the big players, such as EPIC or Valve and offered some kind of a deluxe experience where you could for an additional small fee play your Steam catalogue and for a lfor example on Stadia in addition to local PC or just plain play it on Stadia period and do not care about buying a standalone PC

Yeah, my point is that this applies to everything out there. It would be good if Sony works something out with Epic to allow crossbuy on every single game. The same for Microsoft and GOG. It would be awesome if that could happen.

Hi,

But I think the business model is not working out well for them? I mean it is very good you are satisfied with their business model, more power to you! But in my case I would rather it be like gamepass but in cloud or as some other one said that their steam library to be accessible for a small monthly fee. Google should have reality cooperated with someone, be it EPIC, Valve or some one else who could provide the game library without Google doing deals per game case which I don't think is working well for them I am afraid. When this streaming business really takes off in a couple of years I can see both EPIC and Valve doing something about it.. why would Google not take the opportunity now and do some deal with them before someone else does or they do their own thing. But maybe Valve and EPIC simple do not want to give Google that advantage either.. I don't know how these cooperations think/work

We don't know yet. There are very few games on the platform compared to other ones and we don't have access to the sales numbers or how the platform is growing. What we do know is that Stadia already has 400 games on schedule to be released on the platform, just yesterday they expanded to 8 other countries, they plan to launch on more regions and are continuing to add features to the services. I see it this way, if every single game that comes out to PC is also available on Stadia and Stadia continues to improve the hardware, why would I buy the games on PC? I would just take that money and save it, or buy more games. The advantage of not having to buy the hardware where you play your games, is something I see that a lot of people don't seem to consider. I'm not even talking about about the future cloud games we will eventually see, games that are imposible to run on local hardware alone.

On regards to having a service like Gamepass and having the option to buy individual games, both things can happen, they can continue to give the option to buy individual games and also expand the Stadia Pro subscription with more games you can claim. What I see is that somehow people describe the option of buying individual games as something that should be removed and for me that doesn't make any sense. What cloud gaming service out there allows me to play Cyberpunk under a subscription? Why would I not want to have the option to individually buy that game if it's not available under any subscription service?

 

[manux]

Any opinions if cyberpunk2077 will drive cloud service adoption? I have a feeling it might drive some or potentially even a lot of traffic towards cloud gaming. I know if I didn't already have decent gpu I would go try it out in geforce now to see what ray tracing is all about.

 

[Malo]

Any opinions if cyberpunk2077 will drive cloud service adoption? I have a feeling it might drive some or potentially even a lot of traffic towards cloud gaming. I know if I didn't already have decent gpu I would go try it out in geforce now to see what ray tracing is all about.

hmm that's a good point. Since I own Cyberpunk 2077, I should be able to pay for GeForceNow and play it in the cloud, right?

edit: That's a yes for my GoG version
https://www.gog.com/news/bthe_gogco...be_playable_via_geforce_now_on_december_10thb

 

[manux]

hmm that's a good point. Since I own Cyberpunk 2077, I should be able to pay for GeForceNow and play it in the cloud, right?

edit: That's a yes for my GoG version
https://www.gog.com/news/bthe_gogco...be_playable_via_geforce_now_on_december_10thb

Correct .Unfortunately the free tier doesn't give ray tracing but you could pay for one month(5$) and try it out with ray tracing on.

 

[green.pixel]

What cloud gaming service out there allows me to play Cyberpunk under a subscription?

Shadow for example? You basically rent high-end gaming PC to play games you own.

 

[Alucardx23]

Shadow for example? You basically rent high-end gaming PC to play games you own.

I was referring under a subscription like Gamepass, where you pay X amount monthly to access a library of games.

 

[green.pixel]

I was referring under a subscription like Gamepass, where you pay X amount monthly to access a library of games.

I thought you want to individually buy the game and play it on the cloud. Why does it matter whether it's under subscription or not?

 

[Alucardx23]

I thought you want to individually buy the game and play it on the cloud. Why does it matter whether it's under subscription or not?

I was talking about the people that make the argument that Stadia should only be a subscription service, without the option to buy individual games. If that was the case, Cyberpunk wouldn't be a game I would be able to play at launch on Stadia. As far as I know Cyberpunk is not part of any game subscription library.

 

[Malo]

Signed up for Geforce Now last night to check out Cyberpunk tonight. Fired up Shadow of the Tomb Raider since I'm currently playing that anyway. Performance and image quality was really nice on my Shield and was great to be able to simply pick up where I left off thanks to cloud saves on Steam. Noticeable controller lag though.

 

[manux]

Signed up for Geforce Now last night to check out Cyberpunk tonight. Fired up Shadow of the Tomb Raider since I'm currently playing that anyway. Performance and image quality was really nice on my Shield and was great to be able to simply pick up where I left off thanks to cloud saves on Steam. Noticeable controller lag though.

Do you have shield connected over wifi or ethernet? If it's connected over wifi you might be able to reduce a little bit of lag via ethernet connection.