Sandweed posted:

When Apex legends came out they payed Ninja and Shroud to play it for a day and that was enough to catapult it to a nr2 spot in the BR world.

Klyith posted:

There is an appetite for creativity and novelty everywhere.

Repackaging the same thing in a box that displays neither, takes no effort, and anyone can do has a lot less appetite.

njsykora posted:

It's pretty solidly in Twitch's top 10 these days and Respawn are apparently getting to form a second studio to focus on it so it's clearly doing well enough for EA. I think it and COD Warzone will always have the edge over PUBG just by virtue of them being free to play.

quote:

I don't know that an eternal Alpha/Beta game should be the target of Stadia.

quote:

In about a year and a half you will be playing Star Citizen saying how godly it is.

I was one of its biggest critics but the progress they've made already is likely to be more next gen than next gen. It's quite amazing what they've achieved now

hostile apostle posted:

Go to one of the current pro games category in the store theres an upsell to get Pro there. The UI is not great right now for the use case, its being fixed.

For example visit Zombie Army 4:
https://stadia.google.com/store/details/cba537cccfe3470b8784f88660ea5f09rcp1/sku/a7b1581491ea4b7c9fcc89710561f5f7

...! posted:

Eighteen months! You heard it on r/stadia first, folks!

MarcusSA posted:

TBF COD just came out and PUBG has 2.5 years on it 

Kikas posted:

Is this a loving contest to create the most rear end-backwards and user unfriendly interface possible?

Kikas posted:

This is from a few pages back, but it kinda flew under the radar: the use case is literally "give us your money monthly", how was making that easy, visible and in-your-face not a priority? Is this a loving contest to create the most rear end-backwards and user unfriendly interface possible? With options limited to the phone app, the Pro sub not having any easy access landing page and account options not having the right link in Stadia itself I think you're almost above the "reddit designs volume controls" tier of bad design.

Stux posted:

i dont think cod just coming out or having a yearly release is whats stopping it from matching 600 million pubg accounts, an absolutely ridiculous figure

hostile apostle posted:

I don't disagree, criticism is warranted (even if the tone is a bit over the top). It upsets me too.

I am a mere peon, some in this thread may call me an "Arnold Rimmer" (had to look it up, that's a bit too deep a reference in nerd culture for me), but when I hear stuff like this from you all I've been bringing it to the team to fix like this last month. Keep it coming.

hostile apostle posted:

I am a mere peon, some in this thread may call me an "Arnold Rimmer" (had to look it up, that's a bit too deep a reference in nerd culture for me), but when I hear stuff like this from you all I've been bringing it to the team to fix like this last month. Keep it coming.

Dr. Fishopolis posted:

Does Stadia have any sort of QA pipeline or internal testing for any of this or are you hoping this thread will do that for you?

hostile apostle posted:

There is dogfooding which should hopefully catch this kind of stuff

Stux posted:

quote:

Google doesn't care if gamers like Stadia right now

According to the gaming media Stadia is failing right now. To be honest if we judge Stadia by the metrics they choose to impose on the service they are correct. However I don't think it is that simple and looking at it this way is most likely a huge mistake. It is also the same mistake Google's competitors have made many times over the years. I would argue that Google's real mission here isn't to win over the hearts and minds of gamers. They want to make Stadia the default option for cloud gaming.

All of their most successful products have managed to accomplish this in their respective markets. Did you choose to use Gmail or was it the default option? Do you choose to use YouTube or is it the default option? What about Chrome again I would argue it is the default option. The same can be said about all of their other successful products with over a billion users. Each one of these products was a disruption that attacked and solved a fundamental problem. The other thing to note is none of these products won instantly. Chrome in particular had a huge uphill battle. Internet Explorer had a commanding hold on browser market share at the time Chrome entered the market. So why are we all using Chrome now instead of Internet Explorer? The answer is because now it is the default option.

Part of the strategy that Google uses to disrupt their competitors is the way they release their products. They don't do it all at once, as a result their competitors don't see their complete strategy until it is too late. You can see all the same hallmarks with Stadia. Popular opinion is Stadia is dead in the water and I think that is just where Google wants the attention focused. They have a long term plan for this product that is already 5 years in the making.

Right now Stadia is seen as just a game streaming service but let me paint a picture for you. If Stadia is able to successfully change how games are developed in such a way that it makes it faster for studios to develop games by integrating AI and tools generously provided by Google and if they make it so when you play games you can with the press of a button stream them to YouTube. If they make it so YouTube has features that allow viewers to interact with the games as they are being streamed in a way that wasn't possible before. If they make it so getting to the game itself is possible directly through this same gaming content. If they demonstrate the capabilities of the cloud through new games that are only possible to build in the cloud. If they achieve all of that what has Stadia become? I would argue what they have become is the default option.

The funny thing is Google have done this to Microsoft 3 times already. First with search engines, then with mobile, then with browsers. Microsoft's strategy thus far makes it seem like this will be number 4. Microsoft like always is stuck with needing to support the legacy of what things are while Google builds the default option for where things are going. I think I have watched this movie enough times already to have a good idea how it ends.

quote:

It is kind of funny that all of the hate is happening on YouTube but once Google has the YouTube centric feaures in place it will also be what drives user adoption of the platform. There are over 2 billion YouTube users worldwide that is a ton of eyeballs and they only have to convert on a small percentage to make Stadia a wildly successful platform. That is part of a longer term plan though so most people aren't even acknowledging the advantage this gives Stadia in the gaming marketplace but it is huge. None of their competitors have anything close to YouTube as a way to connect gaming content with potential customers. And yes this includes Amazon. YouTube completely dwarfs Twitch.

quote:

It's also worth noting that - love or hate Stadia - people KNOW about it. They may still be uninformed about the details, but Stadia stands to have the "Kleenex effect" on cloud gaming. It doesn't matter that OnLive, GeForce Now, PSNow, and other platforms have existed in some capacity.

When Amazon's Project Tempo comes out, it's "Amazon's Stadia." When xCloud goes to its next evolution with XSX, it's "Microsoft's Stadia." At this point the momentum is slowly but surely cementing Stadia as the default/standard, like OP's original point with other Google products. Hell, Google has become such a default that we don't even refer to Alphabet, the parent company. Just Google.

quote:

I largely agree with you here, but I'd say it goes a bit deeper than just Stadia becoming the default option.

There's a reason KitchenAid Stand Mixers are the "default option" for stand mixers. They're at a reasonable price point, they work very well, they meet the needs of the vast majority of stand mixer consumers. Yes, there are cheaper options for people who need cheaper, and there are more expensive options for people who need a more premium experience, but by and large, when you think about buying a Stand Mixer, you think about buying a KitchenAid.

u/mugwhite made a similar point. Gmail is the number one because it's awesome. As is Chrome, YouTube, Search, the Google Assistant, Google Calendar, Google Photos, all the assorted services and platforms that Google offers. Some of that is due to gravity - the more users you have, the more revenue you get. The more revenue you get, the better product you create. The better product you create, the more users you have. That's also why it's difficult for new products to break through - they have to fight the gravity of existing products to really make it.

Stadia is incredible. It works amazingly. It's just missing games right now and that's going to take time. And when its library is parallel to Xbox/PlayStation/Switch/PC, at that point it's going to be about features and convenience. And there will be some people who want something familiar like a box under the TV, and there will be some people who want to need to leverage Siberian permafrost to cool the massive rig they build. But for the vast majority of consumers, Stadia will meet the need and when you think about cloud gaming, you'll think about Stadia.

Yes, there are pages to be written about competition and such. But if anybody out there was going to build a better YouTube than YouTube, they'd have done it by now. Same for Gmail, same for Photos, same for Search. We'll see if GFN or Xcloud or any of the others builds a better Stadia than Stadia, but I'm gonna call that unlikely.

quote:

This is very well written and enjoyable to read, thank you OP. c:

I agree completely. I think Google is going to ultimately integrate Stadia into the entire Google holistic "experience." Late 2019 they killed off YouTube instant messaging (yes, that was a thing!) but left the live chat feeds for YouTube streaming. I have no doubt that the messaging technology is being implemented into Stadia for chat. Combining Chrome, with Gmail, with Stadia, with chat and everything else, Google is slowly, quietly challenging not just Microsoft, not just Steam, but really the end user experience as we know it. I'd love it if/when I can have a profile that shows my gaming achievements and activity, tied right to a YouTube channel showing uploads/clips/streams.

I am cautiously optimistic that Google's challenges will then push Microsoft to consider making Windows a cloud based experience, because I wholeheartedly see consumers slowly shifting away from flash drives, hard drives, etc to wanting all their data with them on any screen. We've been hearing a lot about Hardware as a Service, and we know Windows planned to go Software as a Service - aka, subscription models you never own. What better way to untether people from hardware and reinforce HaaS/SaaS than the cloud? Exactly what Stadia is proposing for gaming, and something that xCloud hopes to achieve in some capacity, but nowhere near to the finesse (or global market share of servers) that Google has.

I would not be surprised if Google hasn't even started to throw its cash around yet for Stadia. We are building a cloud gaming platform with a slow but steady trickle of games. What will REALLY make or break Stadia is when PS5 and XSX come out, for hundreds of dollars, and next-gen ONLY games come out. If Stadia can host THOSE games but eliminate platform costs? That is a HUGE opportunity.

quote:

Agree with what you said, and it's why seeing all these YouTubers slating it as a failed console and all the vitriol spewed in the Eurogamer comment absolutely frustrating - cloud gaming is going to happen whether people like it or not. Stadia is clearly a long term project that's going to be improved and built upon over time. It's not a static gaming console - it's always going to be continually evolving and can outpace other traditional consoles whenever they like.

The ease of developing games, the speed of releases and playing on the service along with ever improving internet speeds is going to make Stadia and cloud gaming grow. It's why Microsoft said they see Google as competition and not Sony - Microsoft are thinking far ahead than the typical reactionary gamer who vents in the comments sections, or Youtubers making clickbait videos for hit and likes. They know where the market will lead and they know Google have the skills and resources needed to become the standard.

Sony might have this generation wrapped up but in the next one, or the one after that? Google are playing the long con with this one - it's a marathon, not a sprint.

MarcusSA posted:

I mean it kinda does.

War zone is most direct competition for PUBG and it literally just came out.

njsykora posted:

This is registered accounts, so it likely counts everyone who's downloaded the mobile version, played it once and deleted it as well as actual active players because I'd be fairly safe saying PUBG does not have 600m active players.

Stux posted:

pubg is literally one of the most popular titles ever, theyre not comparable


they had like 50 million daily players when the registrations were at 400 million. its incredibly popular globally and has roughly double the number of registered accounts of fortnite. apex and warzone arent going to touch it.

njsykora posted:

This is registered accounts, so it likely counts everyone who's downloaded the mobile version, played it once and deleted it as well as actual active players because I'd be fairly safe saying PUBG does not have 600m active players.

Ugly In The Morning posted:

I saw that article, which was from right before the Chinese government mandated people use their “PUBG with the serial numbers filed off and some CCP bullshit attached” alternative. I wouldn’t be surprised if numbers were way lower now.


Also people getting new copies to make a new account because their old one got banned. That game had/has major cheating issues.

quote:

• Usually, the last surviving player on the battlefield will receive the victory message: “Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner.” Now, the last five players will be named the winner of the game. If players make it to the top five, the game will post a message to users informing them that they’ve already won, and will ask whether they would like to continue.
  
• In the original version of Peacekeeper Elite, if a player was defeated, instead of immediately disappearing and leaving a loot box, they would kneel down, place a loot box on the ground, and “wave goodbye.” Later versions have removed this, and instead, players just disappear in a puff of green smoke.
  
• Blood effects have been totally removed from the game. Instead of the original green blood to satisfy prior restrictions, it is replaced by light dots.
  
• There is a “signal field” instead of the classic electricity field, which limits the playing area. Players will not lose HP if they are outside of the signal field, only “signal value.” If the player runs out the signal value, they will still be defeated.
  

hostile apostle posted:

Sign up on web, base tier launch, 4k on web, 1440 on web, captures on web, stream connect is live in a few titles like Div2 or Ghost Recon, achievements, various QoL improvements.

hostile apostle posted:

Stadia will offer the ability to jump in and play with the streamer you're watching (crowd play), or influence directly how they play (crowd choice), among other features. I think those features will be pretty interesting to see live in the wild.

Blotto_Otter posted:

That’s some bold bullshit right there. “We won’t take away your purchased games if your Pro subscription lapses” is a far cry from base tier that Google’s been promising.

quote:

Cloud Gaming is the primary driving force for 5G deployment. Source: I'm an RF Engineer and attend every conference with all the ISP's. Every ISP, telecom, and gaming company are trying to pivot to include gaming in their vertical.

Google is a house-hold name. Tell anybody outside of Reddit that "Google is getting into video games" and your average response will be "Really? Cool!"

Gaming is a $140 Billion industry. Google could literally stop updating Stadia and it would still make billions of dollars over the next decade. They're not going to give that up.

quote:

Developers are much smarter than you give them credit for. They also follow tech/gaming news, they know the "Microsoft graveyard" is just as big if not bigger than the "Google graveyard."

They have been able to test and can clearly see the technology works, and works well.

They can clearly see the significant advantages to developing on Stadia. (things that we don't really talk about much in our end-user bubble) The games launched on Stadia cant be pirated. The target audience potential for new sales is absolutely enormous, crossing 14 countries. A small developer wont have to worry about hiring and army of network engineers and security experts if they want to add multiplayer support into a game. They wont have to hire massive call center full of people to field all the hacker reports. There are several other reasons that make it a dream platform for develop on.

They understand to launch a product of this scale, across 14 countries, was a massive undertaking costing billions. Google has a track record of running new products at a significant loss for many years if they believe its going to be a massive market in the future.

The only real competition they will have is Amazon Tempo when it launches.

Look at the way esports are growing in general. 100 million unique viewers tuned in for League of Legends World Championship finals in 2018, the Superbowl that year had 98 million viewers.

Gaming and Streaming is growing every day. I can't personally see Google dropping Stadia before Search or Youtube.
​
There any many developers resistant to Stadia out of fear that Google is taking over another industry, and I fully understand that. At the end of the day, money talks.

quote:

Stadia is very much like the iPhone. When the iPhone first came out media disliked (no keyboard criticism, bugs, featureless) it but users were pretty okay with it. Over time the iPhone just observed, saw what people want and what works (apps) and they double downed on it. I think Stadia is in a similar spot. Media hatred exists but over time Stadia will understand it's strengths and weaknesses, double down on what works, and begin eating the market over time. The Stadia team just really needs to observe and understand what works for users and they'll win.

quote:

With the iPhone Apple didn't limit itself to what people want. They created a new thing and told people they should want that and they agreed. That is an important distinciton but I agree Stadia is in a similar position

Weedle posted:

considering that you can sign up and play for free without needing an invite or anything i think it's fair to say the free tier does exist even if it was announced in a weird and kind of confusing way. it doesn't count as a feature though, it's just "launching the service"

quote:

According to the gaming media Stadia is failing right now. To be honest if we judge Stadia by the metrics they choose to impose on the service they are correct.

...! posted:

I can't personally see Google dropping Stadia before Search or Youtube.

Blotto_Otter posted:

A two-month free trial of the Pro tier is absolutely not what Stadia was originally pitching for their "basic" tier. What happens when the trial ends and I still want to buy games? Either pay up for the subscription, or make a new account every two months?

It would make sense for them to abandon the basic tier as originally described, because that was a fundamentally unworkable business model from day one. But if they have officially abandoned it, that's news to me.

Kikas posted:

Yeah requiring a subscription just to be able to buy the games is ridiculous. I've said it before and will say it again: this business model will ultimately kill Stadia.

...! posted:

Gaming is a $140 Billion industry. Google could literally stop updating Stadia and it would still make billions of dollars over the next decade. They're not going to give that up.

quote:

Cloud Gaming is the primary driving force for 5G deployment. Source: I'm an RF Engineer and attend every conference with all the ISP's. Every ISP, telecom, and gaming company are trying to pivot to include gaming in their vertical.

Google is a house-hold name. Tell anybody outside of Reddit that "Google is getting into video games" and your average response will be "Really? Cool!"

Gaming is a $140 Billion industry. Google could literally stop updating Stadia and it would still make billions of dollars over the next decade. They're not going to give that up.