A peek at the Google Stadia Platform That Will Change the Gaming World

The Biggest Internet Company in the world i.e. Google has recently released an amazing platform. The reason is, Google revealed the presence of Stadia, which is a game streaming platform without downloads or high specs and is expected to compete with PS4 Pro and Xbox One X.

However, Stadia is not a console like the two rivals. Google Stadia is a game streaming platform that powers more than 7,500 Google datacenters worldwide. Therefore, you can play high-end games with stunning graphics even using ordinary laptops and even smartphones.

Indeed, previously there were several platforms that offered game streaming services such as Onlive (now closed since it was acquired by Sony), or local platforms such as Emago and Skyegrid. The difference is, Google states that games that will be played via Stadia must go through a porting process first, so this means that Google Stadia was specifically developed to take advantage of the platform’s strengths.

In order to be able to play Stadia games, Google says it’s just as easy as pressing a button. So for example, you stream gameplay on Youtube, you just click the Play button at the end of the video, then in 5 seconds you will be able to play the game without bothering to download.

Google introduced Stadia in mid-March yesterday at the Game Developer Center 2022 (GDC 2022) event held at the Moscone Center, San Francisco. Apart from that, they also introduced a special controller that is connected to the Stadia service.

Popular internet media Duniaku.net had the opportunity to attend the event and experience how Stadia performed. Here is the review.

1. When will Stadia be released?

There is still no official date from Google when the Stadia platform will be released. However, when the author interviewed one of Google’s staff at the Stadia demo, they stated that Stadia will be released this year as well, although it is still limited to several countries such as the United States, Canada, and parts of Europe.

There is also no certainty whether when released later Stadia will be fully operational immediately, or just testing as Google held late last year with Project Stream. Google is also still keeping a secret about how much the controller will cost, or what their business model will be like for Stadia.

2. Runs on Chromebooks and uses any controller

The important thing that makes Stadia a “million people” platform is that it can run on almost any gadget. During the 2022 GDC event, Google used Chromebooks that weren’t really fit for gaming.

An example is the Lenovo branded Chromebook which only has 4GB of RAM and only 32GB of SSD storage space. Can you imagine if you played a PC game like Assassin’s Creed Odyssey on a potato spec laptop like that?

With Stadia, anything is possible!

Because at first Stadia ran the game via the browser. So, any PC, laptop, or smartphone that has a browser can certainly make it happen. Just see how the internet connection.

For the controller, you don’t have to have a special controller made by Stadia to play it. Your PC game controller can now be used. Even during the 2022 GDC event, Google provided a Logitech controller to play the Stadia platform.

But unfortunately, the author (as well as visitors to GDC 2022) still haven’t had the chance to “taste” the original Stadia controller. The controller is still neatly displayed in a glass case, so it can only be seen.

3. How is the Latency?

One of the important things that becomes a PR for streaming service providers, especially Stadia is the issue of latency. Latency is the time lag required in the delivery of data packets from the sender to the receiver. The higher the lag time or latency, the higher the risk of access failure. Many things cause high and low latency, ranging from the network to the quality of the gadgets used.

When using Stadia, I found Stadia latency very low, almost non-existent. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey which was demoed on Stadia has almost no difference in performance compared to the console version.

The gameplay feels smooth, there is no lag at all. The action when we press the controller is quite responsive, almost without the slightest pause.

We don’t know what’s behind the Stadia GDC 2022 demo. Perhaps, Google provides superfast special internet just for the demo. Or maybe, the laptop that was demonstrated uses a separate connection. Of course the results will someday be different in each country with different internet speeds.

Considering how Google used 7,500 datacenters to build Stadia (and some of them are in Indonesia) to strengthen Stadia, we expect this platform to be at least more stable than other game streaming platforms.

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