Google's first ever Stadia Connect event has come and gone, leaving us to contemplate a reality where the need for hardware is a thing of the past and consoles are an antiquated relic from an era that has reached its expiration. I'd imagine that this is exactly the impression Google wanted to leave us with after putting on a highly produced, stylized presentation that wasted little time to provide us with the details we've been waiting for.
Stadia is going to be a subscription-based service starting at $10 per month, and will likely function similar to Xbox's Game Pass to allow for unlimited play of any game included in the service's library. However, newer games or those that aren't included in the subscription will be sold "a la carte". It isn't that bad of an offering if you think about it, especially considering the already-announced lineup of games that will be available from the get-to.
Oh yea, the games. There will be a few of them when the service launches later this year. It's pretty clear that Ubisoft is a fan, as several of their current and upcoming games will available at launch - including: Ghost Recon: Breakpoint, The Division 2, and Assassin's Creed Odyssey. That's just to name a few, and if you take a look at the full list you'll see that there will be plenty of variety to satisfy even the most particular gamer.
When google first introduced Stadia earlier this year, they made sure to emphasize on the expansive list of devices that would be supported. By and large, that list remains intact - however we're going to have to wait before we'll be able to take advantage of some of them. PC, Chromecast, and Google's own Pixel 3 smartphone will initially be the only devices to have Stadia support, with more being rolled out as time goes on.
With the prospect of a cloud-based streaming future, many were concerned about the internet speeds that would be required in order to get the advertised 60 fps. Well, Google made sure to address those concerns and even made a nice little chart for you to reference:
Where things get a little nasty is with what Google is calling the "Founder's Edition", which is essentially a pre-orderable early access bundle that also happens to be the only way players can start using Stadia this year. Those who don't get the Founder's Edition will have to wait until sometime 2020 before they can access the service. And yes, there will only be a limited number of pre-orders available, so if you're trying to get in on it this year you should probably do so soon. In addition to being granted early access to the Stadia service, the bundle also includes a Chromecast Ultra, one controller, a copy of Destiny 2, and three-month subscription for you and a friend - all for the low, low price of $129 (I mean that sarcastically, but if you consider the cost of a console that's actually a pretty good deal).Destiny 2 cross-save functionality being introduced with Stadia Release
Personally, I am cautiously excited for the potential that Stadia brings to the table, and we've already seen how a play-anywhere scenario can benefit players as a whole. It's definitely ambitious, and will likely take years before it reaches the level of quality that it's aiming for. That said, not everyone will get to benefit from Stadia, and I'm sure they already know that. Hopefully with their wealth of resources, Google will make it a priority to reach as many would-be players as it possibly can.
