Streaming might be the future, but is that future with Stadia?

After a recent AMA on Reddit (2019) meant to alleviate some fears and worries about new game streaming service Google Stadia, Andrey Doronichev, Director of Product, may have caused more harm than good.

Answering a large number of questions on Reddit, Doronichev seems to have created cause for concern by telling gamers that the service is far less like a ‘Netflix for games’ as originally thought and is instead much more like a Playstation Plus or Xbox Gold service, with one free game ‘give or take’ available on a monthly basis.

This, coupled with the lack of discount on games has lead many gamers to become wary of the new streaming service, with many Youtubers, such as Laymen Gaming and YongYea actively going as far as to question why anyone would actually switch to the service.

Stadia was one of the major talking points at E3 this year, with many impressed at the prospect of being able to play games on any form of screen as long as an internet connection is available without any drop in framerate or quality, however, many questioned the way the system can be integrated into everyday life, especially considering download limits set by ISP providers.

Doronichev did address this, as well as many other fears, with rather puzzling responses:

“I can’t predict the future, but I’ve seen that ISPs adapted in the past – I saw it when I was at YouTube – and we’d expect that to continue.”

So Doronichev expects ISP providers to adapt to demand and also suggested that Google were ‘super committed’ to the project, but how can customers be sure that Stadia won’t go the same way as the ill-fated Google Glass, which has, ironically, dropped from the public eye.

To reassure customers about their online library with Stadia, Doronichev suggested that it was much like music transitioning ‘from files to streaming’ however, with no solid assurance, a lack of discount against other retailers and no solid ownership of product, can Google make Stadia a success that does change the industry, or are we going to see a product that might just be too ahead of its time to succeed?

Only time will tell.