If you saw or heard Google’s presentation last week and the announcement of Google Stadia, you’re likely to be as excited as I am. But what about Microsoft and Sony? With the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Two on the way, should they be worried?
In a word, yes.
Google Stadia in theory at least, could make gaming accessible to everyone. It won’t matter if you don’t have the latest gaming PC, newest Xbox or PlayStation. As long as you have a decent internet connection, some kind of basic PC and controller and the cash to buy the subscription, the entire world of gaming opens up.
Most people of a certain age with have a PS4 and/or an Xbox. PC fans will also have gaming computers. Those people will know that hardware doesn’t come cheap. A good graphics card for a PC could run you $500-800 without the rest of the hardware. A PS4 or Xbox is almost as expensive.
Google Stadia
According to the announcement, Google Stadia will require just a 15Mb internet connection to deliver low latency (<40ms) and low loss (less than 5% packet loss) gaming. The demonstration played Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and if you have played it, you will know how demanding that game is!
As the Stadia server does all the heavy lifting so you can play it on almost any device with a decent screen and controller connector. As long as the device can run Google Chrome, it should be able to play any game on the platform.
If you have an older PC in the house and was wondering whether to upgrade it to play the latest games, you might want to check out Google Stadia. It might not be for you and won’t be here for a while, but it is coming and it will be good. Google are betting the bank on it!
To make it all work, they and AMD have designed special processors capable of 10.7 teraflops of graphics processing. That makes each one almost three times as powerful as a PS4 and almost twice as powerful as the Xbox One X. It will be able to deliver 4K resolution at 60fps with 8K coming later. The Xbox One X is capable of 6 teraflops while the PS4 is capable of 4.2. The graphics engine is paired with a 2.7 GHz processor and 16GB of RAM.
Google didn’t mention pricing for Google Stadia. As the next best offering is PlayStation Now at $19.99 a month, it is realistic to expect the cost to be competitive with that. Then all you will need is a Google Stadia Controller and you’re good to go.
The launch of Google Stadia will be ‘sometime in 2019’. That is before the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Two and soon enough to begin feeling excited right away.
It also gives you time to prepare. If you want a custom PC built for Google Stadia or want us to refurbish and older computer, bring it to Dave’s Computers in New Jersey and we’ll make sure you’re ready for launch day!
