Only hours before Google’s futuristic new gaming platform Google Stadia launches, the company has announced that the launch line-up of titles has almost doubled from 12 to 22 games. The news comes amidst mixed reviews from within the industry.
Our launch lineup has just expanded! We now have 22 titles available to play starting November 19, with even more games arriving by the end of 2019. pic.twitter.com/mN8WbLjuBW
— Stadia (@GoogleStadia) November 18, 2019
Game streaming will become a big part of next-gen consoles. That much has become crystal clear after both Sony and Microsoft have extensively talked about cloud gaming in preparation for the launch of their respective new home consoles. While both PlayStation Now and Project xCloud are either active already, Google Stadia is the first true next-gen game streaming service to hit public release. As such, all eyes are on Google and how the launch will go both in technical terms and customer reception.
With reviews for Google Stadia being published by publications already, the overall consensus seems to be rather ho-hum. When the premise works, streaming gameplay over the internet from one of Google’s servers really does feel like living in the future. The problem here, however, is that internet connectivity and stability are often neither in the hands of Google or the user. When this happens, additional lag and loss of image quality can make players have a subpar experience. Something that simply is no problem with local hardware.
Google will no doubt work on improving Stadia continuously and we already see these efforts before the official launch. With an increased game line-up of 22 titles, Stadia users will have more options to chose from. It’s obviously leagues behind what PS4, Xbox One and PC can offer locally but the number will rise up in the coming months.
Google Stadia is out today, and it already looks like a monumental flop. (I heard from one person involved that preorders were below expectations.) Question is, will they eventually stop trying to sell games and switch to an all-you-can-eat subscription model? Or just let it die?
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) November 19, 2019
Sentiment among gamers has been rather negative towards Google Stadia in particular for both the inherent issues of game streaming and the company’s penchant for shutting down projects quickly. Jason Schreier from Kotaku is citing inside sources who claim that Stadia’s launch has been going exceptionally bad, with a much lower interest than expected.
It’ll be fascinating to see how Google will handle its new service going forward.
