Google Stadia
Stadia is a cloud gaming service developed and operated by Google. It is advertised to be capable of streaming video games up to 4K resolution at 60 frames per second. The service is accessible through the Google Chrome web browser on personal computers, supported smartphones, as well as Chrome OS tablets and Chromecast for TV support. Google announced plans for an iOS browser-based progressive web application for Stadia in November 2020.
About Google Stadia in brief
Stadia is a cloud gaming service developed and operated by Google. It is advertised to be capable of streaming video games up to 4K resolution at 60 frames per second with support for high-dynamic-range. The service is accessible through the Google Chrome web browser on personal computers, supported smartphones, as well as Chrome OS tablets and Chromecast for TV support. Google announced plans for an iOS browser-based progressive web application for Stadia in November 2020. Stadia offers two tiers, a free level and a monthly subscription Stadia Pro level. The Pro tier costs US$10 per month, but allows users access to higher streaming rates up to 3K resolution. Ubisoft announced its Uplay Plus subscription service will be available to Stadia users in the future; Uplay will offer discounts on other games for subscribers who sign up for the Pro tier. The base service is otherwise free, but a Pro tier monthly subscription allows users to stream in up to4K resolution, 5.1 surround sound, and offers a growing collection of free games that the user has access to while they are subscribed. The streaming technology allows for larger number of concurrent players on a game server; for example, servers for Grid are normally limited to 16 players, while the Stadia version allows up to 40. While Stadia can use any HID-class USB controller, Google developed its own controller which connects via Wi-Fi directly to the Google data center in which the game is running, to reduce input latency. Google is also exploring further ways to reduce latency, using an idea called ‘negative latency’ which involves prediction of user input through various means so that any apparent network lag between controller and game response is minimized.
During its GDC 2019 keynote reveal, Google confirmed that the controller would also feature Google Assistant, which will automatically search YouTube for relevant, helpful videos related to the game they are currently playing at the touch of a key. The name ‘Stadia’ is meant to reflect that it is a collection of entertainment, which the viewer can choose to sit back and watch, or take an active part in. Stadia works atop YouTube’s functionality in streaming media to the user, as game streaming is seen as an extension of watching video game live streams, according to Google’s Phil Harrison; the Latin plural of ‘stadium’ means ‘streaming’ or ‘entertainment’ Stadia publicly launched on November 19, 2019, in select countries and initially received a mixed reception from reviewers. The service competes with Sony’s PlayStation Now, Nvidia’s GeForce Now, Amazon’s Luna, and Microsoft’s cloud gaming. Users can opt to record or stream their sessions onto YouTube through Stadia, and can launch the games directly from the stream with the same save state that they were just watching. Stream Connect allows Stadia players, cooperatively playing the same game with friends to have picture-in-picture inserts on their display of their friends’ point-of-view in the game.
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This page is based on the article Google Stadia published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 13, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
