Google Stadia has the gaming world cautiously curious. The concept of Streaming videogames isn’t anything new, but Stadia is one of the first attempts from a large company to enter into the seriously competitive world of video gaming. Amazon and Microsoft are already in the works for their own streaming services, hot on the heels of Google Stadia.
Audience reception has been mixed from the start. While Google is keen to downplay the potential pitfalls of a video game streaming service – like input lag, huge data costs, and a lack of games to begin with – some fans and reviewers who have started using the service have begun to point out even bigger issues.
First comes from a small group of players complaining that their Chromecast devices – used to stream Stadia to your TV at home – have started to overheat. For anyone who’s ever used a Chromecast, you’ll know that these devices are usually extremely hot to begin with, but now Stadia is actually causing the device to shut down. Google is yet to comment on this issue.
Next up, the disappointing lack of games. There are some decent titles on the list, like Red Dead Redemption 2 and Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, but both are now a year old and likely played by anyone who’s interested in video games over the last few months. The only exclusive game is Gylt, a spooky but certainly average game.
One of the most disappointing aspects of Google Stadia is that the tech is not actually “play anywhere” as stated in its marketing materials. You can really only use Stadia on Google-linked devices, like your Pixel phone or Chromebook. If you run a game from your Google Browser it doesn’t support 4k or surround sound.
Streaming at 1080p, how many choose to play games in the 21st century, is going to be awfully expensive if you have internet with any sort of data cap. Numbers vary, but the upper end could see you forking out 100mb of data for every few minutes of gameplay streamed to your device.
Finally, the dreaded latency issues. A few news outlets and reviewers have looked closely at this, and many have confirmed that input lag and latency make some games incredibly frustrating to play. Even if you arrange everything correctly – have your wireless controller linked up to your Google TV – there is still a big chance for games to run atrociously.
Video game streaming may be the future of gaming, but so far, Google Stadia doesn’t quite seem to tick all the necessary boxes.
