Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) on Tuesday introduced the world to its anticipated cloud streaming gaming service called Stadia, a name that comes from the plural for stadium and is meant to reflect on the users collective experience of either watching or taking part in a game. Capable of a streaming 60 frames per second, in 4K resolution, HDR supported, and 5.1 surround sound, Stadia is meant to bridge the gap between online and console gaming to bring popular games streaming to any users living room without the need to download content. The draw of the product is that any device that is able to stream YouTube, the video platform owned by Google, is able to run Stadia. All users need is a decent internet connection and their pick of Google's Chromecast Ultra dongle, Pixel phone, or access to Google's Chrome web browser.
Likened to being 'the Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) of video games', Stadia's service is currently a one-time purchase of $130, which includes the platform's controller, the Chromecast Ultra dongle, and three months of access to the small variety of top games currently offered. After three months, the service is the standard subscription rate of $10 per month, which Google is launching next year under the name Stadia Pro. Next year, Google is set to offer a free version of the service that only would charge users for the cost of the games and a lower streaming resolution, which would effectively cut out the need for a console device.
The service initially announced with 31 streamable titles and recently added several dozen more, including titles from popular developers like Ubisoft, Rockstar Games (NASDAQ: TTWO) and the anticipated Avengers game (NYSE: DIS). Users are able to seamlessly purchase and stream titles with no download time and minimal lag with strong internet connections. Currently, Stadia does not have any exclusive titles and all games offered have been available on console platforms.
Google itself is decades behind is the gaming industry, which is dominated by giants such as Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Sony (NYSE: SNE), and Nintendo (NYSE: NTDOY). Google is also battling a growing list of cloud gaming competitors. Sony in as early as 2014 unveiled its streaming service called PlayStation Now, a service that was an overall success despite some users complaining about game lag. Gaming hardware company Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) also offers its streaming option called GeForce Now. Microsoft recently announced its testing for its Project xCloud, which is slated to launch next year. Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) even is rumored to be looking into its own gaming service.
When asked to comment on Google's entry to the industry, Kareem Choudhry, corporate VP of Microsoft's Project xCloud, stated that his company's long history of building content, community, and cloud infrastructure will lead them to success with the launch of their streaming platform. "Any company that doesn't have history in any one of those pillars," Choudhry added, "they have a lot of catching up to do."
But Google did not join the market lightly. Stadia's entrance acknowledged a large demographic that many other gaming companies overlook: women. According to a study from the Entertainment Software Association, women make up 46% of gamers in the United States. Google's Stadia team took care to address to this large chunk of consumers by designing a controller that would have broad appeal across users.
To do this, Google hosted polls and studied how gamers played. Google's director of design Isabella Olsson stated in an interview that the production team "put out rigs of cameras and films roughly 6,000 hours of gaming time to observe how people were holding different controllers." Olsson's team went through "hundreds of prototypes" in a process where they focused on other ergonomic tools to find a design that offered the user their choice of grip and orientation. Google's industrial designer Jason Pi stated that the controller was "made for small and large hands" so that it would be comfortable for the hours of use most gamers deploy.
Google's controller design research did not end at how it would fit in the users hands, but catered to the consumers' eyes as well. The three colors offered for the Stadia controller, a choice of 'Clearly White', 'Just Black', and 'Wasabi, were intently chosen to be gender neutral. The third color, 'Wasabi', was chosen based on what Olsson called "universal appeal" from the thousands of gamers polled by Google.
Cloud streaming games may be the future, especially in markets such as China where console gaming was banned from 2000 to 2015, making the market more geared towards tablet, mobile, and PC gaming. Offering games on the cloud also has the power to change the way consumers pay for games, with services potentially in the future offering free the stream play, a flat monthly fee to play, bundled prices, or some combination of all three. With Google introducing the industry to a solely internet reliant gaming access, only time will tell where the market is headed.