Google Now Suddenly Has an Amazing New Advantage Over Microsoft, Sony & Nintendo.

Video game consoles are on the list of tariffs, and it will cost $840 million. But the whole point of Stadia is that it doesn't need a console.

[isarai]

It still requires consoles. They just arent local, they are remote. What did you think they are just completely non-physical? Lol

[supes_24]

If it doesn’t require a console, what would I be buying? A controller with and infrared sensor that tells a remote sever what I’m doing? So Stadia will cost $60?

[Profchaos]

A controller that only connects to a user's WiFi modem which the user can interact with via a YouTube window on a laptop for example

[Fluttershy77]

It requires servers not consoles

[isarai]

Each sever blade is essentially a console. What else do you call a custom PC with a closed system, static specs and custom OS whose only purpose is to play games?

[AuraAbjure]

@isari For real doe

[andibandit]

@isarai

I think that is completely unlikely. Each blade would problably be some sort of PC able to handle multiple gamer's sessions. Also I dont understand why you'd consider it a closed system or why it would have static specs.

[Trueflames]

Servers not consoles lol

[GottaBjimmyb]

Pretty, inconsequential difference. In fact, the difference is almost entirely just a vocabulary difference.

Point is, hardware is still required, that hardware would still be subject to tariff at good cost and virtualized or dedicated, the hardware requirements are that of a modern console. Seems to me the idea of cloud gaming somehow just means it magically works with no hardware or that existing infrastructure requires no change for Stadia. Pretty unrealistic understanding in either case.

The hardware specs they claim lead me to believe each console is a dedicated piece of hardware, not virtualized, or at least that CPU/GPU seem to be dedicated to each virtualized instance at the very least which is even more odd:
-Custom x86 processor clocked at 2.7GHz w/ AVX2 SIMD and 9.5MB of L2+L3 cache
-Custom AMD GPU w/ HBM2 memory, 56 compute units, and 10.7TFLOPs
-16GB of RAM (shared between CPU and GPU), up to 484GB/s of bandwidth
-SSD cloud storage
At the very least those specs imply that the servers are in fact hardware specifically designed for Stadia and not just normal compute units.

[clouds5]

I want that kind of hardware in an "offline" console... Not on a server. I just don't see the upside of not having the hardware at home. Yes I can stream to my other devices. But I can stream games to other screens at home and I don't see myself playing Stadia on my phone with the current cost of mobile data (at least where I live).

[FyBy]

It still requires hardware to run games on. But you dont have to buy a console. Thats the point. You need to have "only" few datacenters around the world. And Google has them.

[Fluttershy77]

So according to you EA or Activision who have in some of their games dedicated servers in order for people to play their games... well according to you those are really consoles? an so, EA and Activision and others are really console manufacturers!!!
You sound like my late grandma to whom everything was just "computers". Was she wrong? Hell no! All these devices are in fact just computing... But there's a reason why we call them with very specific names.

[Cobra951]

Although I hate the whole idea of streamed games, I have to correct you. A streaming service doesn't need a full-blown console. It just needs a device capable of reading and sending the user's control inputs, receiving an AV stream, displaying video, playing back audio, and communicating online. Even a smartphone could work.

[Smok91]

Wait, you think Google will have a room filled with consoles to make this work? Lmfao

[ChristopherJack]

.

[AK91]

AHAHAHAHAHAHA

[Segata]

*fart*

[indysurfn]

? ROFL!!! LOL okay beavis and butthead!

[supes_24]

Don’t care, still not buying it. PS5 all the way, even if it’s the only console I buy

[Livingthedream]

Ps5 will be a beast of a console. It will surely be worth the money.

[Potnoodle999]

Yes it will, purely because of Sony’s games studios... and don’t call me Shirley...

[shuvam09]

This is, you're not even buying anything...
You're renting...

[CDbiggen]

This!

[PhoenixUp]

Stadia will still cost consumers more in the long run than just buying a console

[StormSnooper]

^ this

[DaDrunkenJester]

How? You dont need to sign up for their monthly sub. You can use the free account to still buy games. How would it cost more than Xbox / PS when you need to pay for Plus or Live to play online as well as buy the games and also pay for Now or GamePass/Xcloud if you want to have a subscription library?

[mogwaii]

If you want the most basic version but I see your point, still not interested in stadia though.

[indysurfn]

The hidden cost is the 1TB ceiling on your internet cap that even the big boys have. It will it a 1TB slow down cap in a couple of weeks if you play in 4k mode.

[Segata]

$10 a month. $120 a year. $600 in 5 years vs $500 PS5. Then hitting your data cap with Stadia in a week and paying huge fees on top of it.

[Yourmommasaid]

Sure, it's a "free" account.
Sure, there's no "subscription" needed.
But, you still have to have an internet access in order to play games...

No thanks!

[quent]

Sounds familiar

[poppatron]

Stadia subscription costs pretty much the same as ps+/Xbox live memberships, so not really.

[princejb134]

im scared for stadia because google has a good history of cancelling projects 2-3 years down the line

[DVAcme]

Aaaaaah, now this, this is a valid argument.

[DVAcme]

Pow, nail hit on head. The minimum requirements to be able to handle Stadia perfectly are costly, and in many states, downright unavailable, and you will not own a single game you play on it. The minimum requirement to play PS5 games is to have the PS5, and you buy a physical copy and it'syours to keep. No fuss, no muss.

[OneEyedSteve]

Even if it was totally free, i still wouldn't care. 0 interest.

[RizBiz]

I'm curious to know how the controller feels. It looks just like an Ouya controller. That doesn't bode well.

[Potnoodle999]

Looks godawful imo

[SegaSaturn669]

It's absolutely true. Google Plus actually tracks trophies.

[Thundercat77]

Is not an advantage for me.

[indysurfn]

Plus trump might drop the trade war or modify it.

[badz149]

yup. just like that Huawei ban that was like a blip of the year and then quickly forgotten LOL

[Sophisticated_Chap]

Sony and Microsoft are in the business of selling console hardware, and tarriffs on China will not prevent that from happening. Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, The Philippines, South Korea, Mexico, and even Japan themselves are all viable alternatives to Communist China.

[ShadowWolf712]

Vietnam is also Communist and sadly seems to be where Nintendo is moving.

Kinda funny how no one who was all-in on these tariffs suddenly doesn't care though. Almost as if they were just following their idol's blind rage...

[TopherMan]

"Communists" breaking all their own rules yet again. George Orwell nailed it.

[ShadowWolf712]

Communism is an inherently broken ideology that has to co-opt elements of the "evil" Capitalist system in order to survive, time and time again, and no one sees the irony.

[AnubisG]

I still rather buy a console at 2x the price than use stadia even for free. That is how much I don't want a game streaming future. I'm willing to pay more to own what I game on and the games I play.

As for the tariffs, let's just wait and see.

[BLow]

Wow, anything to try to make this look good huh. What exclusive games does this thing have? Do they have 1st party games at all? I'm sorry but paying $60 just to stream games doesn't sound appealing to me. Then if you don't have internet then you have no access to your games. Sorry not for me....

[badz149]

and if you are not paying for Pro, you can't stream in 4K, right?

[JackBNimble]

So what, I'm still content with my 1080p

[Kumakai]

Meh. I’d rather pay an extra $20-30 on console hardware than stream. Consoles still have the huge advantage of rendering local, and nothing beats that quality or latency and those are better advantages to me.

[ginsunuva]

There's also the other perspective when looking at online multiplayer games.

They can now calculate physics and interactions in a unified source and distribute the rendering to each player individually. This means no (or fewer) clever lag-compensation tricks needed, and everyone will see an identical result at all times.

So while it does add latency to single-player games, it can reduce calculation latency for online ones.

[sushimama]

They will find a way passed the tarrifs. They've already started to make moves. Shutup. No one should be on the side of Google. That company can get F'ed

[X-Alchemist]

They're all the same, all of them just trying to make a profit, none of these companies give a sh*t about any of us apart from our cash. Why side with any of them.

[sushimama]

Dude if you don't understand the ways in which Google is different to Microsoft and Sony, then I don't know what to tell you. I could not be assed explaining anything to you

[X-Alchemist]

Lol I don't need explaining mate, they're all shambles. Google sells your privacy, as do every other company. They aren't any ethics, just profit.

[Ratchet75]

Tarifs won't affect Europe.

[yellowgerbil]

I don't remember any cloud consoles in fallout 4... I remember cartridge games. There is no future for digital when the world goes kaboom 10 years or 10,000 years from now, only physical will remain. Think of the poor mutated fools that have to live in that world... only buy physical

[Hardiman]

Yeah I'm just waiting for the PS5 to come up for preorder, tariffs or not. Also "amazing " is thrown around absolutely too much!

[fonduktoe]

This article is wearing clown shoes.

[indysurfn]

Yes clown shoes with a Google sponsor logo on it :)

[4kgk76]

I’m sorry but trump need to go. I hate getting into Politics online but that guy is trash.

[KillZallthebeast]

People spend 500-1k on phones bi yearly. Even if consoles go up 50-100$ in entry price I would guess the majority of people would still opt for a physical console that can play games offline.

[sampsonon]

i'm canadian, we didn't vote a moron into power.

[Cmoney007]

You voted for a person that is all about his feelings, and you better care about them! Lol

[sampsonon]

How are the kids in cages going for you?

[sampsonon]

and did you read the article? the dummy is making people pay more money in the states because of his stupid trade war. so what i said is the truth. he is an ass and a racist. he locks babies in cages.

I would rather vote a person that s intelligent and cares about things like, let's see, ummm? CLIMATE CHANGE. than a baby caging ignorant asss.

[Tross]

We actually did. Sure, he was a blank slate at the time and all we knew was that our previous PM had to go, but we did indeed vote a moron in. A different kind of moron than the country to the south of us, but a moron nonetheless. Oh well, here's hoping Canadians have the sense to send him packing this next election. Stupidity is stupidity regardless of political standing, but I think I know what yours is if you turn a blind eye to Trudeau's nonsense.

[sampsonon]

please STFU! you sound stupid to even mention our leader to a person that cages children. moron

[ShadowWolf712]

lol yes the hell you did

[rlow1]

Not sure how Google has a advantage when both MS and Sony have a cloud service.

[badz149]

and Sony already has one that is already running for years and is making money

[Tross]

I feel for US gamers, although you've got things pretty sweet with your $60 new release price tags. Maybe someone in the US can elucidate about whether the US is still better or now worse than other countries for how expensive gaming is becoming, because I sure as heck don't know. Oh, and don't lecture me about exchange rate unless you've calculated out wages and can determine whether gamers in other countries are making more of their currency to compensate, or less where appropriate. All I do know is that even if I lived in the US, I wouldn't waste a red cent on that PoS streaming-only device that doesn't even have exclusives.

[isarai]

No financial genius here but average min wage in the us is like $7-$7.50/hr which is what most people work, and it can go even lower if you work a job that gets tips. Couple that with the fact that we have some of the most expensive healthcare on the planet (which was lawfully manditory for years btw) and $60(closer to $65 after taxes) is pretty damn steep. I worked for $8.50 for 5yrs till just recently and even splitting bills with one other person i had NOWHERE near enough for even basic healthcare let alone frequent games, (yet somehow made too much to get govt assisted healthcare) The only way i was able to afford new games was to preorder them WAAAY ahead of time and drop a few bucks (literally a few, my rule was never over $5 per paycheck) till it was paid off, would take damn near half a year per game. Yet im here looking at many other countries raise their minimum wage across the board meanwhile the US is only doing it on a case by case basis depending on the corporation. Now working for $12/hr and games come quite a bit easier but again im above what most people in the us work.

Just my two cents, not really sure what the point of it was but whatever

[ChickenOfTheCaveMan]

I know you guys need content, but PC was supposed to kill consoles, then it was mobile games and now it's cloud gaming. Digital isn't even as popular as I thought it would be in 2019 so the possibility of people paying 60$ for no physical, no digital, but only the rights to stream a games because they're only ready to pay 130$ upfront instead of 400$ just doesn't make sense.

[Phoenix76]

Unfortunately the average consumer won't know any better and will probably be buying it up for lil timmys Xmas instead of a PS or xbox. It's only once it's at home and connected to Web that they will see how bad it is. Especially when everyone else in the home is trying to use the same connection and the visuals go from OK to blocky and fps struggles to keep up. Streaming to a PS vita, even when sent from a great connection
at home (35mps) to wherever you are, is sketchy at best right now.

[Knightofelemia]

I would rather buy physical then rent the game from the internet. And if I were to say rent a game from a streaming service which will never happen. I would go with people who have been doing it a little longer with Sony or Microsoft at least their machines can also read a disc.

[badz149]

not with the SAD edition LOL

[shiva1]

Is the the only console from microsoft? He has options right?

[DaniMacYo]

🤪

[Trueflames]

Nope srry google but im buying Scarlett with halo day one

[shiva1]

Dont know why those downvotes are for... Im with you on this. Scarlett for Halo day one. Yes, im buying scarlett just for Halo.

[Inzo]

Silly article plus if info is correct the Stadia is going to cost almost $900 over a cycle and then you still have to buy the games at full price and those games wont belong to you and you need a solid line which most people still dont have. Sorry but Google Stadia is DOA.

[Elda]

Stadia has no AAA compelling exclusives a big reason for me to pay it no mind.

[seanpitt23]

Stadia is coming to early.. 5 years down the line when the technology and Internet is more advanced then it would be better..
Ps5 is the way to go next gen

[shaenoide]

And servers are built with semiconductor (and other things) manufactured in China.

[jaycptza]

Google has one major flaw not everyone has the internet requirements. Also it's not available everywhere so...

[Judge_Rez]

For once, I agree with the tech corporations running against something.These tarrifs will affect us all and quite dramatically. Government intervening in the free market always leads to various kinds of disasters, it's about time we learn.

[discobastard]

Doesn't it cost X per month and then you still pay full price for games outside of their free to play list? Or something

[Szychan]

Paying for renting consoles/servers. depending on internet connection stability and ping issue. wanting to play 4k or 8k will require a good internet connection which still will be an issue to get a stable ping with 4k and 8 k streaming.
the concept is good. but the world not necessarily is ready for it. I am getting PS5 . and will see in future if cloud gaming would be possible in my region.

[shiva1]

Damn i din know they are up and running. Where to subscribe and start playing? I want to experience this sudden advantage now.

I searched google couldnt find anything. All talk no substance. All these companies have good cpu and gpu in their mouth i guess.

[CptDville]

But still requires you to buy the games at the same price as physical. Kinda nonsense.

[VTKC]

yeah because they have or will subverted that 840 million onto the consumer in some form. Come on? Companies arent there for the sake of the consumer. They are there for their own gains-Money.

[gamer7804]

this article is sorta true, but in reality the people who can't afford a more expensive console, probably don't have the internet speed that can keep up with streaming, at least we'll, although that might not keep them from trying. The only people I've heard that want a stadia are games journalist and influencers because they need it to do their job.

[Ahytys]

You won't need a console for xcloud, and you don't need a console for ps now, so what's the point of this article?

[Cobra951]

A turd has a huge advantage over them too. Turds are extremely cheap and easy to obtain.

[drizzom]

Threre is no way in hell Im touching a Stadia. Not with how ubiquitous and Orwellian Google is nowadays.

[Gunstar75]

How does this give it an advantage over MS Cloud?

[savedsynner]

IMO Google is heading towards an antitrust/anti-monopoly case if they keep getting bigger, especially if they keep discriminating against conservative content. Either they are a platform or they are not. If they are, then they can't be biased. If they're a publisher, then they can be biased but also come under other laws they aren't currently under.

[SprigganN4G]

If MS snd Sony really wants to Kill Stadia day one, both should announce in theyre conferences that with next gen the Online gaming is completly free like PC. Plus, 100% backwards compatibility with the old gen and that games played online on the next gen is free

[shiva1]

Might as well say that who brought 8th gen, 9th gen is free.... Thats an overkill. It would only happen if google/stadia is giving away everything in life including underwear.

[nucky64]

i don't care. it's like if i'm in the market to buy a new truck and someone gives me the argument that a motorcycle would be better because it doesn't use as much gas and still gets me where i'm going............. what i'm wanting is a ps5 and that's what i'm going to get.

[Magog]

If they haven't raised the price on current gen consoles due to tariffs they are unlikely to raise them on next gen consoles due to tariffs.

[ILostMyMind]

PlayStation or gtfu!

[Enigma_2099]

.You still need something to play them on, a subscription fee, suitable internet connectivity... you know, the OTHER iffy part that they don't talk about much, and despite being a streaming service, you're STILL expected to pay full price for the games. So what are you really saving? The equivalent of a ONE time console purchase. Sounds like they'll make that back easily.

[FernDiggidy]

lol...F#ck off

[Flewid638]

I'd rather spend the extra money to play good games. I'm not about to force lackluster experiences on myself just because it might be cheaper. lol.

[leejohnson222]

I don't trust Google with anything, when a platform has political views so strong they try to manipulate search results, I will stay as far away as possible. There is an alternative to all Google services

[Phantom68]

Yet the key point that is missed out is bandwidth usage and upstream/downstream speed and ping spikes which can cause issues to this type of tech.
So, until everyone can enjoy a STEADY speed/ping than we will still rely on PC and console for our gaming needs.

[DeadlyFire]

They still have parts shipped to thier data centers. Pretty sure Google doesn't get them for free. Consumer might not see the cost, but it's still there for Google.

[milohighclub]

They really don't.

[esherwood]

It would have to be an I insanely better deal for me to support google. After hearing that secret recording of google trying to influence politics and workers there talking about witch hunts they’re probably not getting my money. Hopefully government steps in and breaks them up also

[Imortus_san]

One Console 500€ one time plus games, Stadia 50€ of Internet + Signature ~60€ every month + 60€ of the controller, if you dont have PC or Android then you have to buy an android box.

In the end Stadia is already much more expencive then the console in less then a year alone, imagen 5 years in.

[SteamyGoggles]

To be fair, I think a lot of the Stadia consumers will be coming from PC gaming anyways, in which market they're going to simply blow away a lot of the competition. At this point everyone has been thinking Steam is too big to fail, and they might be right, but this might be the thing to put it down.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

Cloud offers the promise of unlimited resources HOWEVER Google already has stated they have limits to the power offered to the consumer and they also stated the resources available to the developer will be based on the agreements/ contracts agreed to. Developers don't just get a blank canvas to work off of...they will have limits as well based on what they are willing to give in terms of % of cut, etc.... there is no free ride here.

[ACEMANWISE]

So it's nothing more than borrowing a friend's game system because I can't afford one.

[ccgr]

Google also has more money than them :P

[ACEMANWISE]

definately internet cap issues

[Devlin]

The tariffs that would have affected game consoles were suspended. Google has no advantage anymore.
https://www.gamerevolution....

[stamps1646]

4K60FPS game will avg 15GB+(20-hour game could easily hit over 300GBs) per hour and people with data caps like I have this will be an issue. Now I have a 1TB data cap and on average I hit around 650-750GBs per month. It's great to see more options with gaming, but until they can figure out how to break down those numbers this service will not be for me.

[Orionsangel]

This is the worst kind of clickbait.

[BenRC01]

Haha. You Americans get everything you deserve.

[Majinzo]

Google has a tendency to censor games. So no thanks.

I’ll just continue to support Nintendo for their devotion to their developers. I like games and also enjoy supporting creativity. Win/win

[esherwood]

I’d rather pay once upfront then rent a system plus pay for games. It’s not like game consumes are that expensive

[Gwiz]

This increased push from the industry might actually push consumers to a new-comer doing an old trick.
The industry is not going to crash,nay it's going to reset itself by technical limitations.

That would actually be quite ironic.