2019 · Google

Worm Game

Google cloud gaming service

Released: 1 November 2019
Platforms: Google Chrome
Genres: —
Developers: Google
Publishers: —

About

Stadia was a cloud gaming service developed and operated by Google. Known in development as Project Stream, the service debuted through a closed beta in October 2018, and publicly launched in November 2019. Stadia was accessible through Chromecast Ultra and Android TV devices, on personal computers via the Google Chrome web browser and other Chromium-based browsers, Chromebooks and tablets running ChromeOS, and the Stadia mobile app on supported Android devices. There was also an experimental mode with support for all Android devices that were capable of installing the Stadia mobile app. In December 2020, Google released an iOS browser-based progressive web application for Stadia, enabling gameplay in the Safari browser.

Stadia was capable of streaming video games to players from the company's numerous data centers at up to 4K resolution and 60 frames per second, with support for high-dynamic-range (HDR) video. It offered the option to purchase games from its store, along with a selection of free-to-play games. 1 surround sound, HDR, and offered a growing collection of free games that—once claimed—remained in the user's library whenever they had an active subscription. Both tiers allowed users to play online multiplayer games without any additional costs.

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Development

Project Stream was Google's first announced sign of interest in video gaming products. The company had previously been rumored as working on a service called Project Yeti since at least 2016. Google had also hired gaming industry executive Phil Harrison and was seen recruiting developers during industry events in 2018. Project Stream's main differentiator from past services, such as OnLive, GeForce Now, and PlayStation Now, was its ability to run in any desktop Chrome browser, so no additional software needed to be installed.

The service used AMD Radeon graphics hardware. Internally, the service was developed around 2016's Doom to show that the proof-of-concept worked in realistic settings across the public internet.

Reception

During its beta, the service received generally positive initial impressions from reviewers, who felt that it met, and in some instances exceeded, expectations, and made for a potentially viable alternative to PC gaming. Ars Technica remarked that Project Stream's login sequence was far simpler than that of other services. Some minor discrepancies and technical issues were nonetheless noted.

Reviewers reported that the streaming service had low latency and felt as if the games were being played locally. Despite this, depending on Wi-Fi speeds, the games sometimes reduced their screen resolution or lagged. A test by The Verge found no lag issues over a wired Ethernet connection, and occasional stuttering on a shared Wi-Fi connection. However, even on a wired connection, the stream did not output at 4K resolution and occasionally went fuzzy with compression artifacting.