3 ms·

Stadia has crossplay on several games now, though I absolutely agree their marketing has been an embarrassment. All I could think during the entire pandemic wa

Stadia has crossplay on several games now, though I absolutely agree their marketing has been an embarrassment. All I could think during the entire pandemic was how Google should be showing off how easy it is to play games on Stadia. Lower the initial barrier to entry just a smidge and it could have been as simple as texting a link to your family groupchat and then you're all playing a game together in your browser. Even grandparents can figure out how to click a link in an email to open a webpage.

sleepybrett 4y ago
Maybe better said as 'several games provided on stadia have crossplay'. I wonder if there is a better model of a user buying a license for a game, specifically a non-'live service' style game, and being able to use that on any platform that they provide the game for. I find myself buying two copies of more than a few games these days. Mostly picking it up on a more mobile platform like the switch after buying it on the pc.
- solardev 4y ago
  I've seen this model work, primarily on digital tabletop games and their DLCs. Like you might have to buy the base game on each platform (which is usually pretty cheap) but then all the expansion packs are tied to your game account and work anywhere. I think Uplay works similarly, and you can cross play and cross save with your sub on any device. Microsoft GamePass is moving towards a similar direction, where your sub lets you cross play and save between PC, Xbox, cloud, and Android (via the cloud). I dunno why Google never bothered doing that. Stadia tech wise is actually really impressive and comparable to nvidia's offering, with much better UX, but they just gave up almost immediately after launch. What a missed opportunity :(
solardev 4y ago
Yeah, that was always the dream, but I don't know how they botched the execution so hard. All the technology for that was already there, especially with their controllers and Google TV, but they just never finished connecting the dots. Why? It beats me. They got 80% of the way there and then just... stopped caring? It's like they had a team of awesome engineers who built the thing but... no gamers? Like it just seemed that nobody at Google, on or off the Stadia team, actually wanted it to grow beyond tech demo status. Their library is still laughably small, years later, and only very very few games offer crossplay.

sleepybrett 4y ago

Maybe better said as 'several games provided on stadia have crossplay'. I wonder if there is a better model of a user buying a license for a game, specifically a non-'live service' style game, and being able to use that on any platform that they provide the game for. I find myself buying two copies of more than a few games these days. Mostly picking it up on a more mobile platform like the switch after buying it on the pc.

solardev 4y ago
I've seen this model work, primarily on digital tabletop games and their DLCs. Like you might have to buy the base game on each platform (which is usually pretty cheap) but then all the expansion packs are tied to your game account and work anywhere. I think Uplay works similarly, and you can cross play and cross save with your sub on any device. Microsoft GamePass is moving towards a similar direction, where your sub lets you cross play and save between PC, Xbox, cloud, and Android (via the cloud). I dunno why Google never bothered doing that. Stadia tech wise is actually really impressive and comparable to nvidia's offering, with much better UX, but they just gave up almost immediately after launch. What a missed opportunity :(

solardev 4y ago

Yeah, that was always the dream, but I don't know how they botched the execution so hard. All the technology for that was already there, especially with their controllers and Google TV, but they just never finished connecting the dots. Why? It beats me. They got 80% of the way there and then just... stopped caring? It's like they had a team of awesome engineers who built the thing but... no gamers? Like it just seemed that nobody at Google, on or off the Stadia team, actually wanted it to grow beyond tech demo status. Their library is still laughably small, years later, and only very very few games offer crossplay.