What is the current state of Google Stadia?

I (and a lot of other people) refuse to buy Stadia games.

Mainly because after spending ~60$ on a game, to keep having access to it, you have to keep paying a subscription. Even if you only play in solo mode.

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Edit: it appears that you "only" need a subscription if you want to play @4K, this is was communicated so badly it stuck in my mind since the lunch.

The point still stands that when google eventually shuts down the platform, your games will evaporate and you don't own anything.

Stadia has been really great for me, in my sort of unusual case. I usually play a video games for a month, then not at all for several months, then back on. In my current situation it didn’t make any sense to spend so much money on a console, to barely use it. I definitely can’t play any games on my MacBook.

Stadia meant I could buy the game I really wanted to play (Red Dead 2), and not worry at all about how to play it. I’m currently on the free trial of the Pro subscription (which enables 4K streaming), but I probably won’t renew. I can keep playing for FREE, capped at 1080p, which I would expect will be just fine. Lag has been non-existent, video quality could be a little better but it’s phenomenal for live streaming IMO.

Edit for context: My internet connection typically hovers around 60Mbps, and I play with an ethernet connection (which I got for remote work, not for gaming, but it's been great).

I bought and played FFXV for 20€ (discounted) and I don't have to pay any subscription fees. Graphic quality is sometimes bit disappointing (video compression artifacts and less details), but it's always smooth. I'm happy with it, much less hassle than trying to run it on my Linux. Games start very quickly without installing and don't need GBs of local storage.

Status of Stadia? Well, you still have a little over 3 years to try it out... http://stadiacountdown.com/

On Twitter, everyone wants to make you believe it's dead and a laughingstock of the Internet. Yet Stadia's tweets get way more likes/engagement now than they did months ago, so it definitely feels like it's growing. Outside of Twitter, if you mention Stadia it usually prompts a "What's that?" 99% of the time for me.

As a user, I'm extremely happy. I recently moved from Google Fiber (Kansas City) to Portland (Xfinity) so I was a little worried that Stadia only worked so well because I was on fiber + Google, but it's worked amazingly well out here as well.

I briefly tried GeForce Now since it's cheaper and it was fine, but I had some input stuttering and graphics downscaling that was an immediate dealbreaker for me compared to the flawless experience I had on Stadia.

To me, it seems like Stadia has the tech down solid, and the biggest downside is the game library. However, they also seem to be picking up the pace they release new games at, and there's way more games per month free on Pro now than there was months ago, so that's really exciting to me.

I play Stadia on the same TV I have a gaming PC (mostly for VR, but occasionally for RPGs with an Xbox controller), a Nintendo Switch, and an Xbox One -- and I've found myself pretty exclusively using the Switch and Stadia for the past few months.

I doubt I'll buy another game in the future outside of Stadia, unless it's something for the Switch. The Xbox is pretty dead to me now (and I don't think I'll upgrade to a next-gen console) and I much prefer Stadia over my gaming PC since I can also play games on other devices now.

I'm excited for Amazon's Project Tempo and Microsoft's xCloud, because they might be better at getting the licensing needed for massive amounts of games at once. In the meantime, Stadia seems like a clear leader in streamed gaming to me.

It's working perfect for me. I bought some games and a I can play them without paying the subscription. So it is like a free cloud console if you buy the games.

I love the experience of firing some adventure games on my Macbook, grabbing the controller and chilling on the sofa.

My xbox one x and a 4k screen in the office room, but I can't be bothered to sit in the chair and wait until everything boots to play for an hour on a Tuesday night.

The video artifacts can make the picture a bit muddy (esp. darker levels or games) but all in all, it runs smoothly, I can't notice any input lag that's longer than on my xbox.

Games start quickly, run smoothly, and there are some bangers that will take me months to exhaust, so I am not that worried about the library.

The issues start when someone in your house starts streaming HD videos, than stuttering begins. I have 100 mbit copper, I am pretty close to google data centers it seems, in Western Europe.

I bought Stadia controller and a few games. The controller feels great and pairs quickly. I mostly game either on my Windows PC through chrome (4k) or my macbook (1080).

I really love it!

I just got one last week. Games started instantly with no lag or artifacts and I have a 20mb connection. Obviously the Chromecast aspect is great.

I got three months free so I will continue to play and see then if I will renew

I bought a couple games already and those are always in your library. So just add all the free ones. If you cancel those games are still available to you

I'm hooking it up in my room when I go in for surgery.

Stadia has been perfect for me, zero complaints. The subscription is well worth having a library of games to explore (or replay, in the case of Superhot).

I'm a new dad, so jumping in and out of games is important. Sadia makes that easy, unlike the huge updates on my Switch (nevermind the filled SD card). I also love that I can move room to room without needing additional docks - just a multi purpose chromecast.

There is so much fear/noise in this thread about Google shutting it down, and I gotta say, I'm just not worried about that. If it happens, so be it, I'll have gotten plenty of value out of the platform. Are you not going to see a movie in a movie theater because you don't own it after and the theater might go out of business someday? Are you all still buying Blu-ray? Everything dies, live a little, go stream Doom Eternal.

You still don't own anything you purchase, so that's already a no for me. I'd be willing to let it slide though, were it not for Google's history with discontinuing products.

I have been using Stadia since launch. The streaming service works perfectly, never any lag. The only problem I have with stadia is the lack of games. Red dead redemption and Assassins creed odyssey are the top titles and both are at least 1.5 years old. I also believe Cyberpunk 2077 will be released on stadia but it will not be available on launch day. Stadia needs games.....

Brilliant. I've played PUBG constantly since May and before that Division 2 - two "low latency" games which apparently should suffer on Stadia.

I think since November I've paid the monthly subs twice, due to the "free" months from the Founder's Edition and then Google offering another three months free.

I've bought a handful of games, the most expensive was Grid for £55 and Division 2 (£8) and the WoNY expansion (£25).

I have a fairly standard connection, 40Mbps down and 18 up.

Overall it has vastly exceeded by expectations. As a causal gamer I find it perfect to dip in and out of, without the need to layout £500 on a console or wait for huge Gb updates.

How is Stadia and other game streaming platforms dealing with "bitrate killer" effects (e.g. grid patterns, flashing etc.)? Do they have enough bandwidth or does it become a pixelated mess like in youtube videos?

I'd guess it's a typical "We built some amazing tech, but released it 90% finished with some critical bugs, and now the project is paralyzed while we fix those bugs rather than develop it."

experience based on chrome under linux; it was laggy, while I should've been the best case they could cater to. FiberTTH, 2ms to google.

It constantly gave me the laggyness that you get on a console, but on a PC, but worse!

Yes, you get used to it, until you play something locally again and are reminded it's not good. (maybe it was my setup to blame in this case.)

They've started a pretty big YouTube ad campaign, I guess taking advantage of recent low ad prices.

I can't try it due to the drastically reduced catalog.

This in my view is the biggest problem.

Streaming gaming doesn't seem to be dead, because aside from the Stadia, Nvidia has been quietly offering the GeForce Now service, which has been a decent competitor.

The people that spend the most in games care more about responsiveness and graphics quality. Both aspects suffer when you stream a game.

If you do a side-to-side comparison between Stadia and a console or PC you can notice some graphics artifacts and there can be input lag.

Then, the reviews have not been favourable enough for people to become interested. Favourable reviews have been always an important factor in games.

I have used Steam Link for streaming games locally, here at home, and it's not the same as playing it directly on my PC. With Stadia perhaps it's similar.

I will be waiting this in Australia forever. Right now the COVID-19 is over so this isn’t relevant.

It has not cross platform with Steam, which kind of sucks. I cannot play with friends that are not on Stadia.

Read on a business insider article "$130 for access to a game store – a game store largely filled with games that are already available on other platforms, sometimes for less money – is a hard sell." Seems like Google just chucking resources at a "hot" industry... was definitely getting backlash a few months post launch

Anyone play turn based 4X games on Stadia? Seems like a good use case.

The games I’d play are not on stadia