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I just don't see how they are going to compete with Microsoft on this, or Sony for that matter. I can't help but think this will be killed off in the next 2-3 y

I just don't see how they are going to compete with Microsoft on this, or Sony for that matter. I can't help but think this will be killed off in the next 2-3 years due to low adoption. Microsoft and Sony already have their foot in the door, and xCloud is supposedly going to be an E3 topic...and I'm sure they will bundle it with existing Xbox Live services for a bump in price. Google has proven me wrong in the past, but they've also killed a lot of products like this.

techntoke 7y ago
Uh, cross-platform gaming will be huge. It says it will work in a Chrome browser. This is running on Linux and using Vulkan as well, so I imagine the open source community will want to try to adopt these technologies more and more since it is clearly scalable and efficient enough to run a live streaming service of this magnitude. I'm happy to see less games developed in proprietary frameworks and to be supported on more operating systems than Windows.
- partiallypro 7y ago
  There's no denying the underlying idea is big, the question is can Google actually penetrate the market, or have the grit to see it through when adoption is low in the beginning. I'm betting no, but we'll have to wait and see.
  - cannonedhamster 7y ago
    First time someone gets bored at Google they will drop this like nothing with a month or two notice and any games purchased will be vapor. Google doesn't care about it's users. It's just another platform to extract data mining or ai from. Google makes massive unilateral consumer unfriendly changes before breakfast. They barely care about business customers. If you're not ads or ad related and bringing in money you're not worth anything.
    - FridgeSeal 7y ago
      You’re being downvoted, but you shouldn’t be, because you’re absolutely correct.
      - cannonedhamster 7y ago
        Didn't notice I was being downvoted. Legitimately don't care about it either. I'll be dead most likely within a few years and I can't take internet points with me or cash them in to take care of my family when I'm gone. Thanks for the kind words though.
- Arelius 7y ago
  Just because the platform is running Linux and Vulkan doesn't mean that Google won't wall that behind their data centers. The PS4 runs on BSD.
kyrra 7y ago
Microsoft came out of no-where with the original XBox. You had Playstation, Nintendo, and Sega. It can happen, just need the right motivations for customers. And if 5G lives up to it's promises, this will be one of those first great products to take advantage of that extra bandwidth.
- onion2k 7y ago
  And when Sony launched the PlayStation no one believed they could compete with Nintendo and Sega..
  - gamblor956 7y ago
    The Playstation was originally supposed to be the next Nintendo console...
- Grazester 7y ago
  Microsoft Xbox persevered only because of Microsoft's deep pockets not because they necessarily did anything different enough to attract gamers. It was not a successful console.
  - cloverich 7y ago
    To add on to this, I remember Gates said _something publicly like "I expect to lose about a billion dollars on it before it pans out" when launching xbox. I remember that it just seemed a very genuine "I think we should be in this market long term, and I know we'll lose a lot of money to get there. But we can afford it."
  - jonathanhd 7y ago
    Above all the Xbox had Halo, google doesn't seem to have anything unique up their sleeve.
  - jonas21 7y ago
    Funny, I know someone else who has deep pockets.
sourthyme 7y ago
To me this seems like xCloud is in response to Stadia. Google has the infrastructure and Microsoft and Sony need to work together to compete. This would be similar to how Microsoft and Sony responded to the Nintendo Wii.
- Voloskaya 7y ago
  Because Microsoft does not have the infrastructure? Azure has more DC and compute power around the world than Google Cloud.
  - jplayer01 7y ago
    The problem is that Microsoft can't really be taken seriously in the gaming market, or in any consumer space where they might have good or great products but little to zero traction, and Sony doesn't have the network infrastructure.
    - HunOL 7y ago
      >Microsoft can't really be taken seriously in the gaming market But they are in this market for a long time and are taken serious.
    - true_religion 7y ago
      Microsoft has the Xbox, a major gaming console and Sony has the PlayStation Network. It's not as clean cut as you say.
    - Voloskaya 7y ago
      Are you saying Xbox has little to zero traction in the gaming space...?
    - taude 7y ago
      XBox has like 35% market share vs %65 of Sony. I wouldn't call that not taking Microsoft seriously in gaming market.
  - SmirkingRevenge 7y ago
m_ke 7y ago
By being a click away on youtube, android, chrome and chromecast.
pjc50 7y ago
OnLive tried this, failed, and got acquishutdown by Sony: https://www.theverge.com/2015/4/2/8337955/sony-buys-onlive-only-to-shut-it-down https://www.theverge.com/2015/4/2/8337955/sony-buys-onlive-o... Other players who could do this fairly naturally are Valve (steam link) and Nvidia themselves.
SmirkingRevenge 7y ago
They're putting a big emphasis on the "frictionless" aspect. If they can get people impulse buying subscriptions/games, they'll get some traction. Its not exactly breaking most people's bank to have a $9.99 subscription for all you can eat gaming. For those who don't already have consoles, its a no brainer.
- skellera 7y ago
  It’s not all you can eat. They have some free games but you have to buy your games still.
owaislone 7y ago
I don't think it's as hard as you'd imagine. Gamers are the craziest of early adopters and tech enthusiasts. They'll flock to you if you give them a great product. Unlike other areas (messaging, social media), you don't need the critical mass to have a successful product especially with cross-play becoming more and more common/acceptable. Even if you need the critical mass, it's much easier to get it with a great product in the gaming industry compared to others. If Google delivers a great product here, they'll for sure have a huge number of users IMO.
- calcifer 7y ago
  > I don't think it's as hard as you'd imagine. I think it's very hard. The best article ever written on this subject is "So You Want to Compete with Steam" [1] and it applies as equally well to Playstation/Xbox. [1] https://www.fortressofdoors.com/so-you-want-to-compete-with-steam/ https://www.fortressofdoors.com/so-you-want-to-compete-with-...
- FridgeSeal 7y ago
  Go on a number of the gaming subreddit and you’ll see Stadia is being met with distaste and hesitation. Gamers are increasingly tiring of the games-as-a-service model, and this is a step even further in that direction. Personally I think this will have the same lifetime as a lot of other google products: it’ll launch, have some success, and then be killed unceremoniously a couple of years down the line.
  - tortarga 7y ago
    People viewing gaming subreddits most likely already own a console or gaming PC and aren't the target audience for Stadia. Google's aim is to open up gaming to new markets of people who only have low end PCs, laptops or mobile devices.
    - ndiscussion 7y ago
      But those people certainly do not fit the mold: > Gamers are the craziest of early adopters and tech enthusiasts. Those are the herds we all profit from. Not whales but cows. Why would I want to be on the bleeding edge and get a shit experience?
foobarian 7y ago
I wonder where the ads come in. I can imagine creating an ad network and placements in-game, which would then let them offer the product for free/cheap to users, and pay a cut of the money to game creators who hook up the placements.

techntoke 7y ago

Uh, cross-platform gaming will be huge. It says it will work in a Chrome browser. This is running on Linux and using Vulkan as well, so I imagine the open source community will want to try to adopt these technologies more and more since it is clearly scalable and efficient enough to run a live streaming service of this magnitude. I'm happy to see less games developed in proprietary frameworks and to be supported on more operating systems than Windows.

partiallypro 7y ago
There's no denying the underlying idea is big, the question is can Google actually penetrate the market, or have the grit to see it through when adoption is low in the beginning. I'm betting no, but we'll have to wait and see.
- cannonedhamster 7y ago
  First time someone gets bored at Google they will drop this like nothing with a month or two notice and any games purchased will be vapor. Google doesn't care about it's users. It's just another platform to extract data mining or ai from. Google makes massive unilateral consumer unfriendly changes before breakfast. They barely care about business customers. If you're not ads or ad related and bringing in money you're not worth anything.
  - FridgeSeal 7y ago
    You’re being downvoted, but you shouldn’t be, because you’re absolutely correct.
    - cannonedhamster 7y ago
      Didn't notice I was being downvoted. Legitimately don't care about it either. I'll be dead most likely within a few years and I can't take internet points with me or cash them in to take care of my family when I'm gone. Thanks for the kind words though.
Arelius 7y ago
Just because the platform is running Linux and Vulkan doesn't mean that Google won't wall that behind their data centers. The PS4 runs on BSD.

kyrra 7y ago

Microsoft came out of no-where with the original XBox. You had Playstation, Nintendo, and Sega. It can happen, just need the right motivations for customers. And if 5G lives up to it's promises, this will be one of those first great products to take advantage of that extra bandwidth.

onion2k 7y ago
And when Sony launched the PlayStation no one believed they could compete with Nintendo and Sega..
- gamblor956 7y ago
  The Playstation was originally supposed to be the next Nintendo console...
Grazester 7y ago
Microsoft Xbox persevered only because of Microsoft's deep pockets not because they necessarily did anything different enough to attract gamers. It was not a successful console.
- cloverich 7y ago
  To add on to this, I remember Gates said _something publicly like "I expect to lose about a billion dollars on it before it pans out" when launching xbox. I remember that it just seemed a very genuine "I think we should be in this market long term, and I know we'll lose a lot of money to get there. But we can afford it."
- jonathanhd 7y ago
  Above all the Xbox had Halo, google doesn't seem to have anything unique up their sleeve.
- jonas21 7y ago
  Funny, I know someone else who has deep pockets.

sourthyme 7y ago

To me this seems like xCloud is in response to Stadia. Google has the infrastructure and Microsoft and Sony need to work together to compete. This would be similar to how Microsoft and Sony responded to the Nintendo Wii.

Voloskaya 7y ago
Because Microsoft does not have the infrastructure? Azure has more DC and compute power around the world than Google Cloud.
- jplayer01 7y ago
  The problem is that Microsoft can't really be taken seriously in the gaming market, or in any consumer space where they might have good or great products but little to zero traction, and Sony doesn't have the network infrastructure.
  - HunOL 7y ago
    >Microsoft can't really be taken seriously in the gaming market But they are in this market for a long time and are taken serious.
  - true_religion 7y ago
    Microsoft has the Xbox, a major gaming console and Sony has the PlayStation Network. It's not as clean cut as you say.
  - Voloskaya 7y ago
    Are you saying Xbox has little to zero traction in the gaming space...?
  - taude 7y ago
    XBox has like 35% market share vs %65 of Sony. I wouldn't call that not taking Microsoft seriously in gaming market.
- SmirkingRevenge 7y ago

m_ke 7y ago

By being a click away on youtube, android, chrome and chromecast.

pjc50 7y ago

OnLive tried this, failed, and got acquishutdown by Sony: https://www.theverge.com/2015/4/2/8337955/sony-buys-onlive-only-to-shut-it-down https://www.theverge.com/2015/4/2/8337955/sony-buys-onlive-o... Other players who could do this fairly naturally are Valve (steam link) and Nvidia themselves.

SmirkingRevenge 7y ago

They're putting a big emphasis on the "frictionless" aspect. If they can get people impulse buying subscriptions/games, they'll get some traction. Its not exactly breaking most people's bank to have a $9.99 subscription for all you can eat gaming. For those who don't already have consoles, its a no brainer.

skellera 7y ago
It’s not all you can eat. They have some free games but you have to buy your games still.

owaislone 7y ago

I don't think it's as hard as you'd imagine. Gamers are the craziest of early adopters and tech enthusiasts. They'll flock to you if you give them a great product. Unlike other areas (messaging, social media), you don't need the critical mass to have a successful product especially with cross-play becoming more and more common/acceptable. Even if you need the critical mass, it's much easier to get it with a great product in the gaming industry compared to others. If Google delivers a great product here, they'll for sure have a huge number of users IMO.

calcifer 7y ago
> I don't think it's as hard as you'd imagine. I think it's very hard. The best article ever written on this subject is "So You Want to Compete with Steam" [1] and it applies as equally well to Playstation/Xbox. [1] https://www.fortressofdoors.com/so-you-want-to-compete-with-steam/ https://www.fortressofdoors.com/so-you-want-to-compete-with-...
FridgeSeal 7y ago
Go on a number of the gaming subreddit and you’ll see Stadia is being met with distaste and hesitation. Gamers are increasingly tiring of the games-as-a-service model, and this is a step even further in that direction. Personally I think this will have the same lifetime as a lot of other google products: it’ll launch, have some success, and then be killed unceremoniously a couple of years down the line.
- tortarga 7y ago
  People viewing gaming subreddits most likely already own a console or gaming PC and aren't the target audience for Stadia. Google's aim is to open up gaming to new markets of people who only have low end PCs, laptops or mobile devices.
  - ndiscussion 7y ago
    But those people certainly do not fit the mold: > Gamers are the craziest of early adopters and tech enthusiasts. Those are the herds we all profit from. Not whales but cows. Why would I want to be on the bleeding edge and get a shit experience?

foobarian 7y ago

I wonder where the ads come in. I can imagine creating an ad network and placements in-game, which would then let them offer the product for free/cheap to users, and pay a cut of the money to game creators who hook up the placements.