5 Console Features Stadia Wants to Take Away
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VOICE OVER: Riccardo Tucci
WRITTEN BY: Ty Richardson
Like it or hate it, Stadia is coming, and promises to be a very different way to play games. Here are a few of the features that Stadia wants to leave in the dust.
5 Console Features Stadia Will Make Obsolete
Welcome to MojoPlays, and this is our video on the 5 Console Features Stadia Will Make Obsolete. We’re not here to say “console gaming will be wiped completely” or “streaming is the definitive way we’ll play games”. These are simply pros & cons to help inform you on whether you should make the transition to Google Stadia when it launches later this year.
The Console Itself
It may be obvious, but it’s also one of the most bittersweet features of Google Stadia. The platform will be console-less, and when asked by The Verge if Stadia will ever get a console, Vice President and General Manager Phil Harrison responded with a resounding “We don’t need it.” While it’s nice to know we don’t have to worry about dropping a few hundred dollars on new hardware. On the other hand, consoles have been around since the birth of gaming in the 70’s. Are we really prepared to dismiss this part of the culture? We’ll have to wait and see when Google announces Stadia’s pricing plans this June.
Discs & Cartridges
This sort of goes hand-in-hand with the absence of a console. With Stadia being strictly built on cloud data and streaming, gamers won’t have to worry about losing discs or cartridges of their favorite games. This may be beneficial for those who don’t want physical copies, but the lack thereof has now created another problem for the community. How will anyone be able to access a game’s files? While this does help prevent piracy and hacking, the modding community may become frustrated with Stadia, especially if certain games become platform exclusives. Unless Google provides an alternative, fandoms will have a whole new obstacle that may never be conquered.
Downloading & Installation
When we made the jump into the eighth generation of consoles, we found ourselves with a new dilemma: downloading and installing games. Due to the massive size of AAA games, buying a new game isn’t as satisfying as it used to be. Before, you could pop the disc and start playing immediately. Nowadays, it could take hours before you can play a new game, and discs now serve as unlock keys rather than storage of the games themselves. Luckily, Stadia won’t have that problem. Because games will be streamed, users can start games within seconds without worrying about downloading the newest update file or getting that “Ready to Use” lie while the game is still installing.
Storage Space
As the gaming industry has progressed, games have gotten bigger and bigger. While this eliminates the need for buying extra flash drives, hard drives, and SD cards, it’s possible that Stadia will have a monetization plan where users can pay a monthly fee for storage space. Unfortunately, some people live in areas where they’re already restricted on data usage or just have unstable internet. We may not have to worry about storage space as much as we used to, but the fact that Stadia is a streaming platform is going to force many to ask “At what cost?” Gamers will need to carefully consider this before dropping money on a potentially mediocre service.
The Comfort of Being Offline
More and more games are demanding players to always be online, and that isn’t exactly a good thing. Not everyone wants to be online, and not everyone can be. Remember, Google Stadia is a streaming platform, which means you’re going to need a constant connection in order to access your games. Even if you can maintain the 25MB requirement, what’s going to happen when your internet goes out? How much progress is lost? What do you do if you’ve made a complete switch to Stadia? Many people play offline games for that reason, and Stadia doesn’t seem to have a resolution for that, at least for the moment. Those who indulge in single-player experiences may not want to jump aboard Stadia’s hype train just yet.
Welcome to MojoPlays, and this is our video on the 5 Console Features Stadia Will Make Obsolete. We’re not here to say “console gaming will be wiped completely” or “streaming is the definitive way we’ll play games”. These are simply pros & cons to help inform you on whether you should make the transition to Google Stadia when it launches later this year.
The Console Itself
It may be obvious, but it’s also one of the most bittersweet features of Google Stadia. The platform will be console-less, and when asked by The Verge if Stadia will ever get a console, Vice President and General Manager Phil Harrison responded with a resounding “We don’t need it.” While it’s nice to know we don’t have to worry about dropping a few hundred dollars on new hardware. On the other hand, consoles have been around since the birth of gaming in the 70’s. Are we really prepared to dismiss this part of the culture? We’ll have to wait and see when Google announces Stadia’s pricing plans this June.
Discs & Cartridges
This sort of goes hand-in-hand with the absence of a console. With Stadia being strictly built on cloud data and streaming, gamers won’t have to worry about losing discs or cartridges of their favorite games. This may be beneficial for those who don’t want physical copies, but the lack thereof has now created another problem for the community. How will anyone be able to access a game’s files? While this does help prevent piracy and hacking, the modding community may become frustrated with Stadia, especially if certain games become platform exclusives. Unless Google provides an alternative, fandoms will have a whole new obstacle that may never be conquered.
Downloading & Installation
When we made the jump into the eighth generation of consoles, we found ourselves with a new dilemma: downloading and installing games. Due to the massive size of AAA games, buying a new game isn’t as satisfying as it used to be. Before, you could pop the disc and start playing immediately. Nowadays, it could take hours before you can play a new game, and discs now serve as unlock keys rather than storage of the games themselves. Luckily, Stadia won’t have that problem. Because games will be streamed, users can start games within seconds without worrying about downloading the newest update file or getting that “Ready to Use” lie while the game is still installing.
Storage Space
As the gaming industry has progressed, games have gotten bigger and bigger. While this eliminates the need for buying extra flash drives, hard drives, and SD cards, it’s possible that Stadia will have a monetization plan where users can pay a monthly fee for storage space. Unfortunately, some people live in areas where they’re already restricted on data usage or just have unstable internet. We may not have to worry about storage space as much as we used to, but the fact that Stadia is a streaming platform is going to force many to ask “At what cost?” Gamers will need to carefully consider this before dropping money on a potentially mediocre service.
The Comfort of Being Offline
More and more games are demanding players to always be online, and that isn’t exactly a good thing. Not everyone wants to be online, and not everyone can be. Remember, Google Stadia is a streaming platform, which means you’re going to need a constant connection in order to access your games. Even if you can maintain the 25MB requirement, what’s going to happen when your internet goes out? How much progress is lost? What do you do if you’ve made a complete switch to Stadia? Many people play offline games for that reason, and Stadia doesn’t seem to have a resolution for that, at least for the moment. Those who indulge in single-player experiences may not want to jump aboard Stadia’s hype train just yet.
