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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 produ

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?
- threeseed 7y ago
  People have said exactly the same thing about: 1) software as a service 2) streaming music 3) streaming video 4) digital games There just isn't enough people caring about physically owning something these days.
  - davemp 7y ago
    People (mostly) already don't physically own games on PC. Steam can in theory shut right down and most people's games would just be gone.
    - blibble 7y ago
      the games would be patched to ignore the steam check, or the steam API emulated to bypass it entirely and since most games use the same steam stub this would be a pretty easy thing to do
- SmirkingRevenge 7y ago
  Go into gaming related subreddits, even for beloved and succesfull games and products - and marvel at the toxicity and negativity you'll likely see all over the place. Game reddits (and other forums) are legendarily toxic.
ehsankia 7y ago
Don't forget too that: 1. They are also targeting people with no gaming pc / console 2. A big part of the plan is the leverage Youtube to bring people in 3. Most of the infrastructure is already there for the rest of Google, so this isn't too much of an overhead for them Put all this together, and it doesn't look as crazy as some think it is. #2 is really the crux of the strategy though.

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?
threeseed 7y ago
People have said exactly the same thing about: 1) software as a service 2) streaming music 3) streaming video 4) digital games There just isn't enough people caring about physically owning something these days.
- davemp 7y ago
  People (mostly) already don't physically own games on PC. Steam can in theory shut right down and most people's games would just be gone.
  - blibble 7y ago
    the games would be patched to ignore the steam check, or the steam API emulated to bypass it entirely and since most games use the same steam stub this would be a pretty easy thing to do
SmirkingRevenge 7y ago
Go into gaming related subreddits, even for beloved and succesfull games and products - and marvel at the toxicity and negativity you'll likely see all over the place. Game reddits (and other forums) are legendarily toxic.

ehsankia 7y ago

Don't forget too that: 1. They are also targeting people with no gaming pc / console 2. A big part of the plan is the leverage Youtube to bring people in 3. Most of the infrastructure is already there for the rest of Google, so this isn't too much of an overhead for them Put all this together, and it doesn't look as crazy as some think it is. #2 is really the crux of the strategy though.