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1554220cookie-checkDoom: Eternal On Stadia Is Plagued By Lag, According To Digital Foundry
Features
2020/03

Doom: Eternal On Stadia Is Plagued By Lag, According To Digital Foundry

Bethesda Softworks and id Software’s Doom: Eternal is out now for Stadia. Although the game is available to stream on Google’s “cloud gaming service,” it looks like Digital Foundry has found something very off-putting, and that thing is input-lag.

Before jumping into the Doom: Eternal test by Digital Foundry, if you have no clue how Stadia works, you can get three different editions as seen below:

Stadia Base Edition

Stadia Base will not have access to all Stadia Pro features. This includes the following:

  • No 4K HDR
  • No 5.1 surround sound
  • No “free content” or discounts

Stadia Base users will be able to play content in 1080p with 60fps and stereo sound. This will release sometime in 2020 for free.

Stadia Pro Edition

The monthly subscription called “Stadia Pro” lets you experience the “best” of what Stadia has to offer. Every month Stadia Pro demands that you pay $9.99 in exchange for the ability to play in “4k HDR at 60fps” with 5.1 surround sound. As an additive to the above, this subscription will include “free games” that will be “released regularly.”

Stadia Premier Edition

The Premier edition costs $129.99 and lets folks who missed out on the or Founder’s wave get in on said tier’s rewards. Here’s what the Premier edition offers:

  • Night Blue Stadia Controller (Limited Edition)
  • Chromecast Ultra which allows for “4k 60fps” Streaming
  • Three Months of Stadia Pro and three Months of Stadia Pro Buddy Pass

Internet speed requirements

And here are the nitty-gritty specs for those unaware how Stadia works regarding connectivity speeds, sound, and resolution:

  • 10Mbps is the recommended minimum and will get you 720p 60fps with stereo audio
  • 20Mbps is the threshold for 1080p and will get you HDR Video, 60fps, and 5.1 surround sound
  • 30Mbps+ is the best for Stadia, which offers 4k HDR 60FPS with 5.1 surround sound

With all of the above laid out, keep in mind that the Digital Foundry crew have access to a 300Mbps wired Internet connection and are playing Doom: Eternal at 4k at 60fps. You can skip to the comparison part that starts at 8:29 or watch the entire video right here:

In case you did not watch the video or you’re looking for a summary, the crew at Digital Foundry say that visually the Stadia version of Doom: Eternal is nearly the same as the Xbox One X, offering users 1800p resolution. This also spills over into the special effects and texture department.

The video also highlights that detail and resolution of distant objects are reduced and resemble the quality of something being played on the Xbox One S instead of the new and improved Xbox One X.

And although Digital Foundry found a couple of crowded areas that brought Stadia down from 60fps to 58-59fps, the team reported that the game is plagued by input lag that’s “too high.” This lag is said to make the game almost unplayable since you have to shoot and perform actions in advance.

In addition to the above (as seen in the header image), the comparison in the video shows that the Xbox One X runs circles around Stadia’s 19-24-frame delay — when pressing a button or performing an action.

So there you have it, the Xbox One family of consoles (preferably the S and X) will net you an experience that is on par with Stadia if not better since they don’t suffer from input lag. And comparing any decent PC or beast rig to Stadia is like watching the Doom guy making short work of Hell’s finest.

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