Google has no actual competitive advantage here. No one will find Stadia's lag acceptable if they find the lag on other services unacceptable. The cloud advantage was one of the main pillars upon which the Stadia business was built, and there just isn't any evidence that this theoretical benefit is working to Google's benefit in real life. Nvidia isn't even a cloud company, and it can at least match Google.
You can’t outrun the speed of light. Gaming is a highly engaging medium. The instant feedback between the input and the game is what allows players to settle in to a flow state, feeling as though they are directly controlling the game. I would liken input delays in games to those “voice jammer” apps that replay your voice back to you on a delay while you’re talking. It just gums up your ability to perform normally.
That’s not even getting into the issues with ownership and whatnot.
There is, imo, no path to victory in the AAA game streaming space. You can at best make some neat tech demo, and maybe even sell it to a small audience who can deal with the lag for a subset of genres, but you’re not going to displace consoles, phone games or computer gaming any time soon with that.
As part of our portfolio of games, Wordle will have an exciting future with the help of a team of talented engineers, designers, editors and more, furthering the user experience.
[…]
Wordle was acquired for an undisclosed price in the low-seven figures.
No hate towards the creator for selling the game. They made a free game that millions of people play a day and love. It’s fair to get some money off of that. But NYT paid 7 figures for this game, and intend to “further the user experience.” Nevermind that half of the reason the game is so loved today is precisely because of how simple and “non-furthered” it is.
Another NYT article also includes the phrasing “the game [will] initially remain free to new and existing players.” Initially.
Sony Interactive Entertainment today announced a deal to acquire Bungie for $3.6 billion, the latest in a string of big-ticket consolidation deals in the games industry.
[…]
At present, the studio is working on maintaining Destiny 2, expanding the Destiny franchise, and working on new IP.
I would really prefer overall to see less of “Giant games company X buys smaller developer Y, thus consolidating the marker further” but that’s just how the business is going at this point. Wild to see the stark divide between AAA and indie studios.
As a VERY bought-in Destiny 2 player, I actually don’t mind this though. I mean yeah, I’d prefer for Bungie to independently just do well, but Sony tends to do well by their studios, and if the FAQ is to be believed, Bungie will remain a wholly self-controlled subsidiary with creative control.
Of course, who knows how long that will last. Hoping the answer is “basically forever” but I know first-hand that the promise of “you’ll remain a self-contained subsidiary!” is not a forever deal.