Google Unveils Stadia Streaming Platform at GDC 2019

Google has officially announced a new platform at this year’s Game Development Conference (GDC). Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai took to the stage this afternoon to reveal Stadia. Before this Pichai explained Google’s ambition to enter and use the gaming space, including bringing a Triple-A game to any device that could use Chrome. It was revealed that partners with Google made over 100 billion dollars.

(Author’s note: We will update this post as more info is unveiled.)

Pichai explained that they want this new platform to be for everyone and that they have a strong team behind its development. Stadia is designed to be “one place for all the games we play” and was actually tested months earlier. This is a streaming platform, allowing players to enjoy titles with any device that can run Chrome.

Stadia doesn’t require any browser and allows users to instantly hop into a game. There is no downloading and the way to access it is via a Youtube link that appears to show up at the end of a game’s trailer. At launch, Stadia can be played across tablets, phones, laptops, and desktops. The data center is the actual platform so there is no physical item that players need to purchase. This streaming platform will sport resolutions up to 4k and is seeking to reach 8k resolution in the future.

There will also be a unique controller called the Stadia Controller that will connect via wifi directly to the game you are playing. The Stadia controller will sport a capture button that saves and share videos you make to Youtube and a Google Assistant button that lets players access special in-game features.

Unity, Havok, and Unreal were revealed to all be supporting Stadia. Developers can develop on Google’s Cloud or their Cloud. Marty Stratton from id Software also took to the stage and showed off the upcoming DOOM Eternal on the Stadia platform. Stratton confirmed that the game will run on Stadia at 60 FPS in 4K. Surprisingly, Stadia will embrace cross-platform play along with bringing game saves/progression across.

Google’s new platform will boast a system called “Stream Connect” which allows split-stream multiplayer without sacrificing the quality of the game. Content creators can highlight, live stream, and capture videos directly through Stadia. Players can also jump into games directly with the streamer via the Crowd Play button. This allows users to hop into matches and let the creator highlight the person who joined on their stream.

State Share is another new feature that lets streamers have players play in the exact same scenario they just faced. Users can also use Stadia to get assistance on how to complete a difficult level without logging out. There was no word on how this system would decide what videos to show players or if it will be curated.

Stadia is confirmed to launch in 2019, but sadly there was no word on pricing.

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