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Google Stadia shuts down internal studios, changing business focus

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Re: Google Stadia shuts down internal studios, changing business focus

#801

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> you have to log into Steam and use it as a computer If I recall correctly, you have to do this once , and it can save your log-in details for next time. > You & I may be gamers or computer users, but normal people don't want to deal with that shit. Gamers are their target audience. > By having games integrate with Stadia's API, they can do other kinds of optimizations, like having simple optimized options, compares…

> Gamers are their target audience. I don't quite agree on that one. If you already have a 2000$ gaming PC with a huge Steam catalog, Stadia is most definitely not targeting you. Nvidia is. Stadia is targeting people who want to play the latest AAA game or EA sports game, without having to invest in a $500 console or $1000 PC. You just play $60 and you're good to go on your laptop you use for Facebook, or spend $100…

> I don't quite agree on that one. If you already have a 2000$ gaming PC with a huge Steam catalog, Stadia is most definitely not targeting you. Nvidia is.

I don't think so. If you have the hardware, there's little reason not to run it locally. They're both going after the same market, but with different sales models.

There's probably never going to be a subscription that gives you access to all the latest titles.

Re: Google Stadia shuts down internal studios, changing business focus

#802
post #714

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you accept failure that easily, you will never try hard to turn anything around. You need some sort of balance between the two.

What ever happened to "fail fast"

Vine..

Re: Google Stadia shuts down internal studios, changing business focus

#803
post #768

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This and Google internal promotion process focused on launches. Launch something, make a big splash of it and you will get more $$$. Recipe for disaster. In Enterprise world specifically in Cloud this still haunt them

In a large organization it's difficult to track if launches really were successful or not. "Striking while the iron is hot" is the expected behavior for leaders, and the folks who want to grow need to immediately look at the next big thing. I haven't seen a good model for incentivizing staying with a product or team in a large company. Most of the time the "ops" work or incremental growth work will never appear as si…

That's very true, pushing for new projects regardless they are successful or not is a path for success. I think eventually this leadership need a successful track history to prove is worth investing in this person/leader projects

Re: Google Stadia shuts down internal studios, changing business focus

#804

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you people realise the there are whole generes of games,where beautiful graphics is a serious advantage, but low latency is not? Like, 600 ms latency is still 100% acceptable and enjoyable. And not only graphics. Turn-based strategy genre can also benefit from gigantic ram and cpu resources - all to make ai smarter, more enjoyable to beat the ever. I think stadia and cloud gaming in general is a gold mine. But it…

You don’t need to stream video to run AI in the cloud for a game. Strangely given the existence of server infrastructure based games for decades we’ve never seen it. Maybe the idea isn’t that amazing after all?

That is quite true, the technology was here and nobody used it. That proves nothing, though.

You can apply the same logic to anything new. We had VR headsets before HL:Alyx and anyone could say "VR has no good games, idea is toast".

Re: Google Stadia shuts down internal studios, changing business focus

#805

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you people realise the there are whole generes of games,where beautiful graphics is a serious advantage, but low latency is not? Like, 600 ms latency is still 100% acceptable and enjoyable. And not only graphics. Turn-based strategy genre can also benefit from gigantic ram and cpu resources - all to make ai smarter, more enjoyable to beat the ever. I think stadia and cloud gaming in general is a gold mine. But it…

Oh there are games where input latency does not matter. You can usually run them on toaster too. You can make amazing AI that beats humans 100% of time pretty easily, the hard part is making it challenging enough for people to have chance to beat it... It also just needs game state, without all the cruft of stadia(visual side, sounds, graphics, inputs etc). Also did google partner with any of developers of such games…

Toaster doesn't cut it when it comes to convenience, full hd graphics and depth of gameplay. Because, let's face it, toaster doest have that much compute resources and storage.

What kind of games will emerge 3 TB of assets will be totally fine amount? For a mobile turn-based game, no less. Or when 6 2080tis will render graphics for your phone no problem?

Re: Google Stadia shuts down internal studios, changing business focus

#806
post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's actually way cheaper to buy the console if you're just gonna play one game. You get a PS5 for $550 these days, so that's $330 total for a AAA game ($630). Then instead of $10/m, you have a console for 10 years ($120*10 = $1200). Even cheaper if you go for the PS4.

You aren't including the network service to play games online. Factor in another $60 * 10 years. That nearly squares things up. Then you have to think about intangibles. Stadia is a live platform that continuously improves. The $630 you paid for that ps5 and AAA game is frozen in time. You've bought no future value. You can also play anywhere without having to carry around a 4.5kg box that computes math.

Well, PSN improves as well. Plus there a whole two free games every month and you not required to have great internet connection to play games.

Also, money you paid to stadia are just as "frozen" (spent? frozen money implies they can be thawn) as money for online service.

While you can carry chromecast ultra with you it's PITA to setup - you have to configure the network on it and a controller. Without wired connection it's not a good experience. Meanwhile, ps5 you just plug in a play for the most part.

Re: Google Stadia shuts down internal studios, changing business focus

#807

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not? Valve is not in the hardware business.

Valve has the Stream Link and VIVE. Steam Link is pretty much Stadia using your computer instead of the cloud. They're very much in the hardware business.

You're a few years late. VIVE is a separate HTC headset now. Vavle Index is Valve's VR headset.

Steamlink has hardware is dead because it was bad. Steam controller is dead as well.

Steamlink now is an android app that might work and might not work on your device.

Re: Google Stadia shuts down internal studios, changing business focus

#808
post #619

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't need to buy a high-end graphics card. Those are for hobbyists who enjoy buying the latest kit and fitting water coolers etc. for its own sake. 17" Dell with a GeForce mobile whatever-it-comes-with will let you play everything fine for 5ish years if you're into the latest shooters, longer for other genres.

Try to find any PC build that competes with modern console MSRP today. It can't be done, not even close. The equivalent gpu, the gtx 1070, goes used for $300. PC gaming fans are still living eight years in the past when the frugality argument was true. Time to update your beliefs. Now compare it to the cost of a streaming box & subscription.

Having the latest graphics is probably a fairly niche interest I would think? Fairly exhausting to keep up with, and tends to be a bit cyclic: consoles are ahead for a few years, then behind, then jump ahead again.

I think for most people the decision on PC vs a particular console is:

* Which types of games tend to be available on that platform.

* Which specific games that they like are available on that platform.

* Inertial / brand loyalty based on what gaming machine they had on the past.

* If they play multiplayer, what their friends have.

* How much they like tinkering with / get frustrated fighting against computers.

Re: Google Stadia shuts down internal studios, changing business focus

#809

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don’t need to stream video to run AI in the cloud for a game. Strangely given the existence of server infrastructure based games for decades we’ve never seen it. Maybe the idea isn’t that amazing after all?

That is quite true, the technology was here and nobody used it. That proves nothing, though. You can apply the same logic to anything new. We had VR headsets before HL:Alyx and anyone could say "VR has no good games, idea is toast".

It proves quite a lot about the hype around cloud native and the things it enables.

And there were great VR games before HL:Alyx and Alyx is no killer app.

Re: Google Stadia shuts down internal studios, changing business focus

#810

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The engineering side did a great job on a complex technical task. It's satisfactory, kind of works, not great, not terrible. What boggles the mind is that nobody is able to formulate who is Stadia even meant for. Who are the target customers? Draw a Venn diagram of people who: - care about gaming - are OK paying full price for their games - are OK paying 10 euros a month subscription - are OK buying an extra controll…

Stadia could be a way into gaming for crowds who cant afford top-notch machines.. which is 5/6 of the population on this planet.

A top notch machine is only like 50% faster for 2-3 times the price. You don't need it. You can just get a console or a budget PC for $600. If you are crazy you can spend $300 on a PC and only play dota 2 and 2D games like Terraria, Don't Starve Together or Rimworld.

Also, what makes you think that 5/6 of the world has fast internet? I have good internet but if you asked me 3 years ago I would have said no.

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