Author | Huang Qingchun

Title map | Oriental IC

Yesterday (March 4) , Jed Raymond, Studio Games Entertainment Director ( Jade Raymond) announces: Shannon Stadir (Shannon Studstill) will lead Google’s game studio Stadia Games and Entertainment in the Playa Vista community in Los Angeles.

Previously, Stadir was the head of Sony game development. It happened that Sony Computer Entertainment Santa Monica Studio was also located in Playa Vista. It was really to dig people and the company moved to the door.

Jade Raymond has been a producer and executive at EA and Ubisoft for a long time. After joining Stadia, he is happy to face Stadir’s joining:

“I’ve always been a fan of Stadir. She led Sony’s Santa Monica Studio to develop industry-leading games like” God of War “, which has won the favor of fans around the world. She has extensive experience in product development and creative leadership and is very happy to join the Stadia family. “

Many netizens may be unfamiliar with Stadia. Simply put, it is Google’s bounce ticket for many years, and now it finally landed on the cloud gaming platform. It was launched in beta form at the GDC 2019 keynote in November 2019.

Source: Android Central

Maybe some netizens will ask again, what the hell is a cloud game platform?

Here ’s the simple science: Cloud gaming is a streaming technology that allows players to access the full game without buying a disc or downloading. Instead, the game is hosted on a remote server, just like Netflix or Amazon’s Prime Video. Turn on a supported TV, phone, computer, or tablet to start a game over the Internet.

In fact, in Google ’s plan, Stadia ’s positioning has long changed from a cloud game platform to an ecosystem that hosts game developers. However, since the launch of Stadia in November, the response has been flat in both the player community and the game manufacturers. If it were not for this personnel appointment, I would have thought Stadia had died in half a year.

A big cake for gamers

Raymond confidently stated last year that “Stadia is committed to providing unique games, using new game mechanics to create a better gaming experience, and exploring a unique set of interactive modes.”

In the GDC 2019 keynote, Raymond also said that the Stadia platform will gradually add Crowd Play and State Share functions. Gamers around the world are also looking forward to it. After all, when Stadia debuted, its advanced ideas and The astounding gaming experience really shines.

Google also said that 120 games are planned to be held in the stadium this year, including some upcoming games, such as “DOOM Eternal” (Immortal Of Doom) and “Cyberpunk 2077 (Cyberpunk 2077) .

While Raymond described it very temptingly, Stadia is not cheap.

When Stadia went online on November 19, 2019, Google provided the Stadia Base version, and soon iterated over the paid version of Stadia Pro similar to the Netflix subscription system. The difference is that subscribers need to purchase additional games to experience.

Comparison of Stadia Base and Stadia Pro versions / Source: Google

Stadia’s free version can enjoy 1080P image quality, 60 frames and stereo cloud game services for free; the Pro version requires players to pay a $ 9.99 monthly subscription, and then can enjoy 4K quality, 60 frames and 5.1 surround sound Stereo with mobile devices, and regularly give away free games and discount coupons.

Google also offers consumers a $ 129 Founders package, which includes a Stadia handset, Chromecast Ultra, and a three-month Stadia Pro, and two 3-month Stadia Pros that can be used to gift friends.

Among them, the custom Stadia controller includes two analog sticks, a directional pad, and a buffer. The three colors are available for selection. (respectively Bright white, pure black, and mustard) , and has two custom buttons-a share button and a Google Assistant button.

The Share button is designed to allow users to instantly share games directly on YouTube, and users can freely choose whether to keep the game secret or public. As for the Google Assistant button, it works with the controller’s built-in microphone, allowing players to issue voice commands.

Image source: extremetech

However, after comparing Stadia controllers with Xbox One or PS4, foreign players found that the Stadia controller trigger feels a bit loose, and the DualShock 4 or Nintendo professional controller thumb stick is smoother and more comfortable.

Why does Google cut the cake in the game field?

As early as 2009, Onlive became the first company to bring cloud games to the market, but after some operations, it was eventually acquired by Sony in 2015. In the past few years, another company has tried to sell cloud games to consumers, but none of them insisted. Because the table that wants to go to cloud games not only needs influence to get the support of game publishers, but also the maturity of network infrastructure and the maturity of technology.

Technically, the biggest obstacle encountered by companies trying cloud gaming platforms at this stage is the operational response speed—the delay from the time it takes to move the controller ’s thumb stick or press a button to the action on the screen.

For example, after the player moves the controller, the action must be read by gamepad-sent to your device-sent to a remote server via the Internet-the server reads this action-to move the character on the screen in that direction- —Send your action video back to your device via the Internet-you will see the results appear.

Each of these steps may increase latency, and the game experience is likely to become worse when they are superimposed. For example, the reaction speed between milliseconds of shooting games often determines who is headshot first.

Google Stadia Premiere Edition

In that case, why did Google squeeze its head in and grab the cake of the cloud game?

First of all, the dedicated Stadia controller developed by Google can be directly connected to the Internet via Wi-Fi instead of the player’s device. This means that it can send controller code without first submitting it to the player’s connected device, reducing the number of milliseconds of latency and optimizing cloud gaming latency issues.

Second, Stadia differs from other platforms such as Nvidia GeForce Now and PlayStation Now in that its servers are distributed in many places around the world, which can provide more load and faster processing speed than competitors, which is extremely Greatly shortened the server response time.

Moreover, compared with games on Xbox and PlayStation, games on Google platform, Stadia’s own seamless, patch-free, download-free and does not heat up running smart devices are natural advantages. For example, although it only saves a few seconds in loading, it can also be said to be compelling in the experience. This experience surpasses the ps4 Pro. Even if the player wants to continue playing in the bedroom after stopping playing the game in the living room, he does not have to wait until the game is synchronized and stored, which defeats PS4 again.

Finally, Google not only has data and technical advantages, but also can rely on YouTube to continuously strengthen its brand output to Stadia. Chrome and Chrome Book are also important entrances. After all, rich media forms such as live broadcasts and videos derived from games can greatly promote the game. Moreover, Google Home and Android provide a natural ecological hotbed for Stadia.

So, Stadia is not only a game platform in Google ’s territory. It is more like a digital storefront operated by Google. Stadia ’s goal is to become the “Netflix” of the game industry. .

Is Google playing tickets again?

Stadia is undoubtedly a revolutionary platform with great potential and awaiting development. But in the face of mature products such as Sony PlayStation 4, Microsoft Xbox One and Nintendo Switch, Google is clearly not ready.

First, Stadia is available in 14 countries including the United Kingdom, the United States, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, and Sweden, but so far only supports Wi-Fi. -Fi runs on, there are only 28 games that can be provided to players, this volume is pitiful compared with other platforms.

Meanwhile, foreign players have found that Ps4’s Mortal Kombat 11 is $ 25 on Amazon, but it is $ 59.99 on Stadia. This problem is repeated in other game series. Then why do players pay an IQ tax to play on your platform, isn’t Ps4 fragrant?

As for why game manufacturers are unwilling to port games to Stadia, they also think that they have the following considerations:

On the one hand, cloud gaming platforms lack a fixed audience. After all, every new product or service must go through this stage. At this time, good strategies are needed to open up the situation, such as providing incentives for software developers to encourage them to port games to Own platform, but Google didn’t do it.

On the other hand, people don’t trust Google. Foreign media interviewed several game developers and publishers, and they said that there are two main reasons why their games are not on Stadia: “Google didn’t offer them enough money, and they don’t trust the mercurial company to stick with gaming in the long term. “ (Google did not provide them with sufficient funds, they did notI believe this capricious company will insist on playing games for a long time).

Whether to please the players or the game manufacturers, at this stage, Google must lower its attitude and learn from other platforms.

Mortal Kombat 11 on Stadia

That’s it, Google has to stand up and say a few words. So, not long ago, Google announced that more than 120 games will be added to this service in 2020, and this list will continue to grow.

Although it is not known whether EA Access will land on this platform, Ubisoft + of Ubisoft will land on this platform, and you can access more than 100 games for $ 14.99 per month, including new and upcoming ones Games and all DLC packs.

Second, the current games on Stadia can only be run through the Stadia mobile application on devices such as Pixel smartphones, Samsung, Asus, and Razer, which has increased the threshold for players to enter the pit.

Of course, players who are not accustomed to Stadia controllers can also use the compatible Bluetooth of the mobile phone to connect the Xbox One or DualShock 4 controller to the device to play Stadia games.

Finally, Stadia is playing gamesThe line requires high player speed.

The minimum speed recommended by Google is 10mbps. At this Internet speed, players can play 720p stereo audio at 60 frames / s. At 20mbps, playback can be enhanced to 1080p, HDR and 5.1 channels. If you want to achieve the highest 4K effect, you need at least 35mbps connection speed, and the 4K service Google only provides to users who subscribe to Stadia Pro.

However, some foreign players who subscribe to Stadia Pro have come out to face, “Unless you have a good ISP and can connect directly to the router via Ethernet, you can have the best experience. Otherwise, the image of the running game will be partially Blurred or even dropped frames. “

Google has boldly stated that at some point in the future, Stadia will be able to stream at speeds up to 8K and 120fps. However, many countries still have a long way to go to reach this speed.

Even if you can achieve this speed, the problem is that the resolution of the game is determined by the developer and publisher, not Google. Even if you are a professional member of Stadia, when you receive 4k HDR video, you may find this game (such as Destiny 2) because of performance Is locked at 1080p.

Also, foreign players played Destiny on the Pixel 3a for two hours via Wi-Fi and found that it consumes 10G of data per hour. At this speed, it is almost unrealistic to play games on the road at this stage. It ’s important to know that even now The unlimited package is not really “infinite”, it will limit the current after reaching the peak, and the game experience will decline steeply.

To put it bluntly, players feel that your platform game is less expensive, and game makers think that Google may give up Stadia at some point. After all, it has been casting nets and raising a fish pond over the years. As a result, in the next few months, the player community and game manufacturers have not been buying Stadia.

In fact, Microsoft ’s original Xbox was the first game console with an integrated Ethernet interface. Xbox Live set off a wave of online gaming; Valve successfully migrated users to Steam by bundling Half-Life 2 and Valve Constantly optimizing and iterating the Steam client has gradually allowed players to adapt to this platform.

It is only a matter of time until Stadia is squeezed out of the service or experience beyond what Sony, Nintendo or Valve can provide.