Google Stadia is the tech giant’s big foray into gaming. Instead of being a traditional console like the Xbox One or PlayStation 4, it works instead as a streaming platform. With it, this service, gamers can stream PC games to any device with Google Chrome and a speedy internet connection. The platform sounds fine and dandy, and will probably work just great. However, Xbox creator Microsoft isn’t as impressed. In fact, Microsoft denounced Google Stadia in an article from The Telegraph, claiming that it can’t compete with the Xbox console.
Mike Nichols, chief marketing officer of the Xbox division, believes in Google’s technology but just doesn’t think it will keep up. “Emerging competitors like Google have a cloud infrastructure, a community with YouTube, but they don’t have the content,” he states. While Nichols might be right, the platform is still innovating how we play games. With Stadia, gamers won’t need an uber-powerful piece of hardware to play high-end games. Thanks to streaming, players can instantly play new releases on their device of choice.
That said, Microsoft already has its own platform coming with xCloud, which speaks to Nichols confidence. The head claims that Xbox’s service won’t replace its consoles, but will rather supplement them. He compares it to “streaming Spotify on a low quality speaker rather than a dedicated music system.” Sometimes you have to settle for the worse option.
Nichols continues, “You won’t necessarily need a device over time, but you’ll get the best experience with local processing power [available on a console or computer].” To that point, internet speeds around the world still need to catch up to streaming. Moreover, Nichols believes that Google will have a hard time because it has no relationships with game developers. The tech giant announced its own studio but hasn’t announced any games just yet. He’s right to a point, but with Google’s money, it’s safe to assume the company can convince a developer or two to get involved. That method works with the Epic Store, no?
