The Future of Gaming Unveiled at GDC 2019

Photo courtesy : Ari Braginski (CC.by.NC-SA 2.0)

Google is changing the way consumers access their games with a new approach. In its first foray into the gaming space, Google plans to do this with its new Stadia platform which combines gaming aspects with the internet.

If this product goes according to Google’s plan, it could mean trouble for industry giants across all gaming platforms, because Stadia has the potential to reach into all aspects of gaming.

Stadia was unveiled at the Game Development Conference 2019 at San Francisco’s Moscone Center with the slogan, “The future of gaming is not a box.” This takes a direct stab at the big guys in the business, Playstation and Xbox, who are both currently developing new consoles. This is competition on a scale these gigantic companies have never had to deal with, and gaming experts wonder how much of an impact it may have on their profits.

At the announcement, Google’s vice president Phil Harrison said, "with Stadia the data center is your platform. There is no console that limits the developers’ creative ideas, and no console that limits where gamers can play.”

Stadia will be accessible on browsers, televisions, computers, and mobile devices giving it a reach into every aspect of today's technology.

“Welcoming any and all players is fundamental to Stadia, where you can try with your friends on devices you already own,” said Harrison. Players are even able to use their existing usb controllers from their console or mouse and keyboard to play Stadia. This could further ease the access of use of Stadia thus reaching an even bigger audience for “players who want try Stadia for the first time.”

Google CEO Sundar Pichai said the goal is to bring top tier quality gaming to everyone. “If you think about games, there are a lot of barriers for users to play high-end games. Beautiful graphics really need high-end consoles or PCs.” This is especially true with computer gaming, where some dedicated users spend multiple thousands of dollars. If your game loads faster than your opponent's, that gives you a huge advantage over the competition, thus elevating your entire gaming experience.

Harrison said with Stadia, it will no longer matter who has the faster processor, making skill the real factor in mastering games, instead of boosting playing skill by spending more and more money.

“We now have the ability to take a sophisticated, graphically intense triple-A game and stream it to a Chrome browser running on a simple laptop without any sacrifice to the quality or vision of the game developer,” said Harrison.

This demand for high-end technology is what has led to the creation of three different worlds: console gaming, computer gaming, and mobile gaming. Mobile gaming has been far behind the quality of both competitors because it was limited by the power of the phone, which has much less power than a console or PC. Now that Stadia brings the exact same power to our mobile devices, they could potentially eliminate the player base for successful mobile games today.

“Today our industry captivates over two billion players from all around the world,” said Harrison. “Games are now the single biggest form of entertainment on the planet, one that connects a vast community across geometries, cultures and language. And within that passionate community there is a universe of people who love playing games, and there is a universe of people who love watching games.” Yet another breakthrough for Stadia is its vision of bringing any and all gaming communities closer together. “Hundreds of millions of people watch gaming content every single day on YouTube. But those two worlds are mostly disconnected, fragmented and often independent of each other," said Harrison. “Our vision is to bring those worlds closer together, to connect game developers with players and YouTube creators in a way that only Google can.”

Pichai stressed to the audience that “games don't have instant access.” One of the gaming community’s biggest complaints is being ready to play, but when you turn on your console you have to wait for the game or console to update for an hour. Harrison said, “this waiting game will be a thing of the past” and showed a clip browsing YouTube videos and then switching to playing a game in under five seconds.

“The power of instant access is magical and has already transformed the music and movie industries; and with Stadia, it is now available at the highest level of gaming,” said Harrison. Hinting that Stadia could turn into the Netflix of the gaming industry.

It will be interesting to see how much of an effect Stadia will have on the gaming industry.