Does Google’s Game streaming service work? Who will use it? Is it worth it?
Introduction to Stadia:
In November of 2019, Google launched Stadia, it’s entry in the “next-big-thing” category of game streaming services. We signed up for the Founder’s Edition so we could check it out on day one.
Now, after 8 months of playing many games on many different computers and devices, we want to give you an unfiltered opinion of the service from true gamers . . . no focus on technical specs or 4k framerates, just playability and real-world experience. After all, most gamers don’t care about frames. They just want to pick up a controller and play.
So is Google Stadia the streaming service that we’ve all been waiting for? I’ve played a dozen games on Stadia, and I can say that it’s pretty cool most of the time and a little frustrating some of the time. Stadia is definitely a BIG step forward for diskless and console-less gaming. But will it dethrone XBOX and PS4 and make the PC obsolete for gaming? In short, no.
At least, not yet.
The Game-Streaming Concept:
The idea of streaming gaming services is a revolutionary one whose technology has been advancing slowly over the last several years. The concept is that you can login to a gaming service via an app or website on your computer, phone, or tv, and stream AAA title games with fast framerates and 4k graphics WITHOUT needing a powerful console or a $3k gaming computer to run them. This means you could theoretically login with your sister’s chromebook and still be able to play Doom Eternal at 60 frames per second! This is possible because the game is actually being run on back-end cloud servers that do all of the heavy-lifting of rendering and graphics processing , essentially eliminating the need for a console or computer on your end. So theoretically you only need internet fast enough to send the video of the game you are playing to your computer, and likewise, the input from your controller is sent over the internet to the cloud server so you can control the game’s input.
Think of it like Netflix, where you don’t need a dvd player in your house or a disk to put into it. You just need internet fast enough to stream the video to your tv. The only difference is that in this case, the cloud servers also need to accept input from your controller, so the streaming is two-way, in a sense.
Game streaming is not a new concept. We first saw game streaming at E3 in 2015 when Nvidia was testing their streaming service (now called Geforce NOW). The latency inherent in waiting for the movement of your controller to get to the server and see a response on the screen was noticeable and, in truth, annoying. It did not have that fast, responsive feel that you get when playing on your local console or pc. Since then, we have tested a handful of other services with the same result: you could “play” games over the internet, but the latency forced you out of the illusion and made the gameplay ultimately unsatisfying.
With Stadia, Playstation Now, and Geforce NOW, we are seeing platforms with technological advances that nearly remove the troublesome latency and make the game streaming concept much closer to fine.
Stadia allows you to play any of your Stadia games on your computer, on your TV using a Chromecast Ultra and a controller, or on your tablet and some compatible phones.
How to Get Stadia:
Let’s run down the options to get Stadia, as of right now. There are 2 ways to get Stadia: Stadia (basic) and Stadia Pro.
The basic Stadia subscription is free. This allows you to login and play on the Stadia platform for no monthly fee. The catch, however, is that you have to purchase the games you play directly from the Stadia store. There is no access to play games you have purchased on other platforms, such as Steam or Epic Games Store. The games you purchase on Stadia can only be played on Stadia.
Stadia Pro costs $9.99 per month. With this subscription, you can play a list of included games. Some included games are quite good titles, like Metro Exodus, Destiny 2 and Elder Scrolls Online, as well as 16 other games. In addition, you can buy other games just like you can on the basic plan. Here is the current list of games available on Stadia:
You can buy Stadia Pro after a 1 month free trial, or you can get it as part of Stadia Premier which comes with a Chromecast Ultra and a Stadia controller so you can play on your pc or on your big screen tv. If you want to use your own hardware, you certainly can, but a chromecast ultra is required for TV play.
How fast Does Your Internet Need to be to Play?
Your quality of experience is really determined by how fast and reliable your internet connection is. Google says you need a minimum of 10mbps sustained speeds to play at 720p and 60 frames per second. If you want to achieve 4k gaming experience, you will need around 35 megabits per second. Below is the performance / Speed chart from Google:
Yeah, but Does it Work?
We have played a dozen or so games on Stadia, and have played a few all the way through. We played Grid, Metro Exodus, Zombie Army 4, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Tomb Raider: 20th Anniversary, Steamworld Dig, Elder Scrolls Online, Gylt, Serious Sam, Farming Simulator, Samurai Showdown and Little Nightmares. I played Zombie Army 4 from start to finish using 3 different devices, and never had to install anything. That was pretty cool, although I have to admit I missed the ceremonial uninstalling of the game once it was completed 🙂
Here is a summary of our experience on a 200mbps internet connection on the various devices Stadia Supports.
PC – Wired and Wireless Internet – All the games played fine except for those requiring ultra-fast response times, GRID in particular. We couldn’t get this fast-reflex racing game working with satisfactory performance on any platform. First person shooters, platformers and Action / RPG games were all fine on Stadia on PC. Occasionally there were moments of pixelation as the internet worked to catch up, but the experience was acceptable. It was easy to start a game on my laptop, then pick it up again from my desktop computer. The ability to do this was quite nice, and in my opinion shows the real strength of the streaming concept.
4K TV with Stadia Controller – You need a Chromecast Ultra connected to your TV to play Stadia games on the big screen. As for controllers, we used the Stadia controller with the Chromecast Ultra included in the Founders Edition. On PC or mobile device, You can use your own controller if it is compatible. HERE is the list of Stadia-compatible controllers. Currently, the Stadia controller is the only one that works with the Chromecast to play on your TV.
In our testing, the Tomb Raider games, Farming Simulator, fighting games and adventure games like Gylt (made for Stadia) or platformers such as Little Nightmares offered a great experience on the Stadia platform. Gameplay was fluid and fast, with only rare pixelation or slowdowns. I did have problems running at 4k resolution with some games, but to be fair, some developers won’t allow the resolution to go higher than preset limits, so Stadia may have the capability, but the game might not.
Also, when played on a TV over the Chromecast, Metro Exodus and Destiny 2 (both first-person shooters) had just enough latency in controller response to make them not quite playable. There was a noticeable difference in responsiveness on Metro Exodus played on the PC versus the same game on TV over the Chromecast.
Tablet and Phone – There are a limited number of phones that are compatible with Stadia, and currently there is no support for Apple devices. The Google Pixel (of course) Samsung phones, Oneplus and Razer devices are supported. In addition, Chrome OS tablets can be used to connect and play with Stadia. The complete list of supported devices is here:
The games listed above mostly play well on the Samsung phones we tested. We continued to see latency issues on racing games which require very fast input, but other games ran fine with barely noticeable lag. Of course, you will need to play on a fast wifi connection, as we were unable to get good performance on a 4G connection. In fact, we had trouble playing games on a 2.4ghz wifi network, while our 5 gigahertz wifi resulted in a much better gameplay experience.
You’ll need a controller for your phone, and you can use the Stadia controller, the PS4 controller or one of the newer XBOX controllers. Instructions for setting those up can be found here:
Now for the REAL Question: Who is Stadia Made for?
When our team started using Stadia almost a year ago, we were having a hard time deciding who would actually use it. It doesn’t perform better than a console, and a PC is far superior in performance and game availability. It seems unlikely that anyone already having a PC or console would give them up for a life with Stadia.
I enjoyed being able to share gametime on a particular game between home and office, and the ability to jump on the big screen to play something when my upstairs gaming computer wasn’t available (kids home from college for a Covid-19 induced early summer break) was quite convenient.
The fact that some games did not perform as well on Stadia as on their console or PC competitors was a bit disappointing, but not unexpected.
On PC, I could play any first-person shooter I wanted and have a virtually flawless experience. On laptop or desktop, action RPG titles like Tomb Raider played great, and platformers seemed as responsive and beautiful as on any other platform.
On 4k TV, using the Chromecast Ultra, first person shooters were ever-so-slightly laggy and pixelated at times, but played fine on PC. And racing games didn’t seem to respond quickly enough to be enjoyable on TV, pc or mobile device.
I could easily see college students or folks who travel quite a bit using Stadia as their primary gaming outlet, connecting in dorms or hotels as long as the wifi was sufficient to meet the minimums required for good results. It would be impossible for travelers to carry a console around, and Stadia is a much less expensive option than buying a gaming laptop. Still, folks with a console will not be willing to give it up for Stadia, and PC enthusiasts won’t find a viable alternative in a Stadia subscription.
The best application for Stadia seems to be for gamers looking to supplement their consoles and PC gaming rigs to get their gaming fix while on the road or playing the games included with the Pro subscription without having to buy them for other platforms. Oh, and for students who want to game on their Chromebook while they are supposed to be E-learning!
For me, I will continue to use Stadia with the Pro subscription for platformers and Action rpg games that are well suited to the big screen TV. I’m not inclined to buy games on the Stadia platform since buying them on Steam instead would allow them to be played on PC or streamed to multiple devices via Geforce NOW, but the Stadia lineup of included games with the Pro subscription is good enough to make it worth the $9.99 per month price tag.
If you get a chance, try out the free monthly subscription to Stadia Pro and see for yourself what there is to like about Google Stadia.
Written by DMikeyL
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