It wasn’t a surprise that Google announced Stadia, its game streaming platform. Rumors had been swirling for a while that the internet giant was jumping into the console war. Those rumors were enough to bring in the biggest names in the gaming industry to Google’s early morning event at GDC.
The whole presentation room was a vision in white. A swanky, mood-lit room playing upbeat pop music to inject energy into the audience. On the big screen, murky smoke-figures faded in and out of view. Some were abstract, images that looked like they might be tire treads or a ladder; but others were glaringly clear. Like the smoky sphere of a figure taking an arrow to the knee that left many in the crowd vocally wondering if Skyrim was trying to come to yet another console. The display was beautiful, but I couldn’t miss that the whole assembly was staring at a literal smoke screen, an idea that became more distinct as I watched the presentation.
Google’s representatives talked about all of Stadia’s amazing features and paraded numerous partners across the stage from Ubisoft to Tequila Works, creators of adventure-puzzle game Rime. Each speaker had a different theme to touch on, but whether their topic was technology, creator tools, or audience engagement, every speaker hammered home one talking point: this was going to be a gaming platform for everyone!
But is it really?
I asked some indie developers what this announcement and a possible streaming future might mean for their small studios and they talked about what Google didn’t at their presentation.
Source: Destructoid Indie developers react to Google Stadia