ColdFusion - Stadia – Google's Game Changer?

Starting point is 00:00:01 Hi, welcome to another Cold Fusion video. Imagine being able to play any game at full speed and resolution with nothing else but a screen, an internet connection and a controller. No PlayStation, no Xbox, not any kind of hardware that you have to buy to make your game run. What if your game ran on a server on the other side of the world and simply fed you the output on your screen? Welcome to Google's newest product and their future vision to revolutionize gaming. It's called Stadia and it's a big move. You are watching Told Fusion TV. Recently, on the 19th of March 2019, Google announced Dadia at the game developers conference in San Diego.

Starting point is 00:00:47 The idea is simple, but revolutionary. To understand why, we need to first understand the current problems with gaming. Up until now, gamers had to invest in hardware in order to play. This may be in the form of Sony's PlayStation, Microsoft's Xbox, or a laptop or PC with the right amount of RAM, strong graphics hardware, etc. Then, users had to buy a game disc or download the game onto their device, which was limited to the type of console. This means that you can't borrow your friend's Xbox version of a game to play on your PlayStation. Online gaming is also mostly limited to your console, meaning that Xbox and PlayStation

Starting point is 00:01:21 gamers rarely play each other. In Google's Stadier, a user can play a cross-platform without the need for hardware apart from a controller. The screen can be your phone, laptop, or even your TV. Google has released a special controller, but have said that you can use a new controller. you can use any controller, keyboard or mouse. The demonstration at GDC shows just how easy it all is. Imagine you are watching games on YouTube and you discover the latest Assassin's Creed

Starting point is 00:01:47 Odyssey trailer on Ubisoft's official channel on YouTube. You will notice the Play Now button. By simply clicking on that button, the player is brought directly into the game in a browser in as quick as five seconds. With Stadia, this waiting game will be a thing of a thing of the past. And just like that, you can go from watching a YouTube video about a game to actually playing the full high resolution game on that same device with no hardware acceleration.

Starting point is 00:02:17 There is basically no hardware acceleration on that laptop whatsoever, and the game is running directly from our data center. It's then easy and instantaneous to move that same game experience from exactly that moment onto the phone here on a pixel 3x-l. This is great innovation and actually a smart move for Google. They already own YouTube where about 15% of all videos relate to gaming. In addition, 64% of the US population above 13 years old play video games, which is an ever-rising year-on-year number. Stadia is the plural of stadium.

Starting point is 00:02:50 The idea is that stadiums are places where you can either play or watch games, which is Google's vision for the final product. So this is clearly a revolutionary idea, but will it live up to the hype? Since nothing is downloaded to your device, this means that the whole game is processed on Google's servers, and that in turn means that you need fast internet. To stream 1080p at 60 frames per second requires a 25 megabit per second internet connection. Doing this in 4K requires a possible 30 megabits per second. There are currently 65 countries which have an average fixed internet connection above 30 megabits per second and 76 countries over 25 megabits per second. So for some parts of the world, it should be manageable. Even if it isn't possible now, it will be in the future

Starting point is 00:03:32 of internet infrastructure as technology such as 5G advance internet speeds. Stadia's architecture is on top of the Google Data Center network, which consists of fiber optic links between hundreds of points with over 7,500 edge nodes all over the world. This means that you're more likely to have a node near you and hence a faster connection. Google says that in the future, this network will be able to handle 8K resolution at 120 frames per second or more. Google's catchphrase for Stadia is that the data center is your platform. At its core, this means that game developers aren't limited to the processing power of a console. They can build whatever they want, and Google will scale up as required to suit

Starting point is 00:04:12 the game as needs. In theory, this is incredible. At one point, Google touted that currently Stadia is more powerful than the PS4 and Xbox One combined. This is an attractive proposal to developers, and it's crucial, as ultimately developers will have to make the games available on Stadia. If Google sells developers on Stadia, the more than likely it's going to be to also sell the public on the idea. Google has already announced in partnerships with some big names in the industry like Unreal, Unity and Havoc. They have also announced their own developer's studio and also that a popular game, Doom Eternal, will be coming to Stadia. So cloud gaming does seem to be the future, but the question is, will it be Google's?

Starting point is 00:04:52 Microsoft's Xbox has been developing cloud gaming for the past two years, and Google's announcement of Stadia have prompted Microsoft's head of gaming to claim that the Xbox also has a big move coming. While PlayStation has been offering cloud gaming for the past three years, it's been filled with many faults. Previously, the service was restricted to streaming on Windows PCs and only in March of 2019 did they allow streaming on Mac and Android. The issues that you still need a console at this stage, Sony hasn't yet announced a console-less future for their service. In fact, Sony has done the opposite, with their president stating that they will build the next generation hardware. Amazon is also in the mix. The company hasn't made any big announcement, but a

Starting point is 00:05:31 According to their job listings page, there's openings for cloud gaming engineers. Invidia and Valve are also embarking on their cloud gaming ventures, but are finding it difficult to secure devices like Google has. This is because Stadia will run through Google Chrome, giving Google an inside edge. Another factor that will determine the success of Stadia is the price. Stadia boss, Phil Harrison, was a former executive at both Microsoft and Sony, so Google should be confident in hitting the correct price point in comparison to their competitors. still purposely declined commenting on the price or even the potential revenue streams of Stadia.

Starting point is 00:06:06 It's possible it could be a per game purchase or even a more interesting Netflix-style service where users pay a monthly cost to have access to a library of games. Whatever approach has decided, missing the mark here could prove to be the end before it's even begun. So wrapping up, the Stadia announcement is definitely a game changer. If Google delivers on its promise, it could mean the end of the Xbox and PlayStation altogether. Of course, the vision is still a while away and there are a lot of hurdles to overcome before Stadia gets there, but there's a lot to be optimistic about with Stadia. So just remember this day, it could be the day that Google killed the game console. Playing any game anywhere with just a

Starting point is 00:06:44 screen an internet connection sounds like an amazing proposition. Let me know what your thoughts are about this. Anyway, that's it. This has been Degogo and you've been watching Cold Fusion. Thanks for watching and I'll catch you again soon for the next video. Cheers guys. Have a good one. I'm

ColdFusion - Stadia – Google's Game Changer?

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