In a recent roundtable interview, Stadia’s Phil Harrison has explained that you shouldn’t expect the games on the streaming platform to cost any less than other standard full-priced AAA titles.
Speaking with Eurogamer, when asked about whether or not Stadia titles would be full priced, Harrison stated…
“I don’t know why it would be cheaper. […]
“The value you get from the game on Stadia means you can play it on any screen in your life – TV, PC, laptop, tablet, phone. I think that is going to be valuable to players.
“That, and, “In theory, the Stadia version of a game is going to be at the highest-possible quality of innovation and sophistication on the game engine side.”
So basically, there will be two versions of Stadia, a free version due out in 2020 and the pro version at $9.99 due for release this fall.
No matter which version you go with you will have to pay separately for the games on the streaming service, even though you won’t own the games and you can’t play them offline. This means you can only access the games when your internet is working in clean and pristine condition and when Google’s cloud services are up and running in clean and pristine condition.
But tacking on the price of a game on top of a subscription for the streaming service without any way to own the titles is pretty steep asking price for gamers, especially if they will carry the full $60 price tag. Harrison stated that publishers and developers will be able to fluctuate and choose the price of Stadia software as well, so journalists may have to ask publishers who they’ll price titles on Stadia this fall…
“The publisher or the developer is in as much control of the prices as we are, so it’s a bit difficult for me to say what the prices will be right now. But, we’re obviously going to be very aware of prevailing prices in the marketplace.”
So not only are you beholden to Google and their service to play the games you purchase, but the games may be as expensive as their physical counterparts.
Many common-sense people (a seemingly rare trait in humans these days) noted in the comment section of the Eurogamer article that Stadia offers no consumer benefits whatsoever.
Harrison seemed well aware of this sentiment because even he expressed that Stadia’s aim was to move away from physical-based content…
“We’re definitely in a great moment of transition and inflection in the industry, going from an ownership consumption model. Around the world we’re already way past the physical digital tipping point. Particularly in the UK, that’s accelerating as time goes by.”
But this obviously calls back to the question that was posed by commenters: What’s in it for consumers?
Essentially this is a service that stacks everything against the consumer. Unreliability in service, no ownership options, expensive streaming for those playing in 4K, and way to collect the titles you purchase.
Unless Google force-feeds the Stadia onto consumers by flooding the market with product and advertisements, there’s no way that this device could take off organically.
(Thanks for the news tip P All Lolis are Queens)
