Google's New Gaming Platform

Chances are, if you’re into video games, you’ve watched a “Let’s Play” video on YouTube, or watched a game stream live on Twitch. But, have you ever thought: “Man, watching this game makes me want to play it RIGHT NOW”? Well, with Google’s new gaming platform called Stadia, that’s the plan. 

(Photo credit: theverge.com)

The whole idea of Google’s Stadia system is to merge cloud computing and video gaming technology. No longer will your games be downloaded and stored on a console located at home, but instead you would be playing them over the cloud and streaming the output to your TV or computer. The only hardware required for consumers would be a specially designed controller and Chromecast.

The benefit of this type of technology would be that game developers would no longer be restricted to static technology and instead could make use of technology that could be constantly upgraded. This would make the need to upgrade your personal console every generation a thing of the past.

There are some downsides. With Stadia streaming over the internet, it will use MASSIVE amounts of bandwidth. Under a current telecommunication system that either has a bandwidth cap, or will slow internet speeds after a certain amount of usage, streaming a 4K game could potentially be an issue. I know that I personally am tired of always-online games and the push towards “games-as-a-service”.  Additionally, many gamers take issue with the idea of relinquishing their complete ownership of game copies to a corporate data center.

While this technology may have the potential to disrupt the industry, only time will tell.