Streaming has proved to be one of the most disruptive technologies to hit the media landscape in the last decade. Instant, fuss-free access to movies, TV shows and music has fundamentally changed the way we watch and listen – and if Google gets its way, streaming will transform the way we play too. Today, the firm reveals itself as a new platform holder, announcing a bespoke cloud gaming system that possesses undoubted strengths – and weaknesses – compared to the current console model. Fully integrated with YouTube, and leveraging the unique strengths of its vast, worldwide infrastructure, the new system – named Stadia – has the potential to change everything.
In this extensive interview, I had the chance to sit down with Google VPs Phil Harrison and Majd Bakar, to discuss the principles of Stadia, how it integrates with YouTube, and why it may deliver the opportunity for a genuine shift in the kinds of games we play – innovations only possible with datacentre-based hardware. On top of that, we discuss what differentiates Stadia from Project xCloud – Microsoft’s Xbox One-based streaming set-up – and we also discuss specs in depth, with Google revealing what kind of hardware developers have to work with and how the firm is seeking to remove compute limits.
And then there’s client-side hardware. Google isn’t making a console, there will be no local box that sits under your TV, and it has no intention of adhering to the traditional concept of a console generation – but there will be a new controller, providing some intriguing new features and built for optimal performance on a cloud system. The ‘gameplay over IP’ concept has been tantalising us ever since the launch of OnLive, but somehow the end experience never lived up to the promise. Can a global giant like Google deliver where so many systems have failed to gain traction?
Source: Eurogamer The big interview: Phil Harrison and Majd Bakar on Google Stadia