Industry giant, Google is not ruling out any possibilities of working with Steam to get the Google Stadia game streaming service up. While there are mixed opinions about the partnership, it can be great news for both Stadia users and Steam account holders. If such collaboration were to push through, industry insiders believe that access to a Stadia Base subscription would be like giving Steam users a free cloud-based gaming repository to access their existing libraries.
The possibilities of the two giants rallying behind the project were announced by Google Stadia’s Product Director, Andrey Doronichev. Using the Reddit AMA session, he mentioned that they are evaluating their options in making Stadia a “better place for gamers.” This was his response to a question raised on whether there is a chance of accessing an existing Steam library using the Stadia infrastructure.
The Director indirectly created a buzz by including a smiley face at the end of his sentence, which could possibly mean that Google is not ruling out any of the possibilities. Though these are just mere speculations for now, there is no telling of both companies are in communication about such partnership and whether such a project is already in the works.
Many of the Reddit AMA Session participants had mixed emotions about such undertaking saying that Stadia is “just a new platform” and that games will still be purchased. Another commented that Steam can already be remotely accessed without paying, so why would anyone want to pay for a monthly membership.
Nonetheless, it is still exciting to see what would come up with both companies creating a unified gaming solution for everyone. Google might only offer access to Steam game library for gamers with a Stadia Pro package subscribers or might possibly restrict those with none. This is one possible way of avoiding conflict as the Internet-related service provider would still be getting their piece of the pie.
On the part of Steam, integrating their services into a free-based subscription might be damaging for the company’s revenue. Gamers would simply access their purchased game using Google’s cloud resources instead of playing their games using the Steam server.
As speculations continue to circulate, many doubt if the partnership would be a win-win situation for both industry giants. Some say Google might be playing with Steam to get the number of sign-ups and use it to inflate their download and install base. But whatever these companies are cooking up, it sure would be interesting to find out shortly.
