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New Google gaming service is a joke
By Jonathan Friedenberg, CONTRIBUTOR
Many people here in the East Bay and around the world play video games, some more than others, but everyone generally seems to know what they are about at least. This is a big market and naturally, some big names would want to get in on this market, including Google.
That is why they are creating the Google Stadia coming out in November of this year. It is a device similar to an Amazon Firestick or Roku where it streams everything, not requiring downloads.
However this is for video games, not just movies and shows and this will just not work with the average consumer. While the Bay Area may be one of the most tech-savvy places in the world, Google Stadia is just too far ahead of its time and expensive.
While the console may only cost $129, which is a great deal as a PlayStation 4 is around $300 there is a huge caveat: paying for the online service.
While the console is cheap, a service must be paid yearly to stream games on it. Meaning that if you do not pay the yearly service of $50 you will not be able to play any games on it.
While this might not sound like a large investment, in addition to the yearly fee, you still have to pay full price to play a video game. This is a slap in the face to consumers as they have to pay even more just to play a new video game.
In comparison, on the PS4 you buy the console, then you buy the game and that's it. You own the game forever and can play it whenever you want. Google Stadia does not have this basic structure.
You not only have to buy the console and pay for the streaming service, but then buy the game itself. In addition to this, if your service runs out because you stop paying for it, you can no longer play the game you just spent your hard-earned money on. This renders it obsolete unless you buy the service again. You do not even get to keep the game after buying it like any other gaming console.
Lastly, it uses data, a lot of data. Video games are massive in size and would require a lot of data to stream. Most internet providers have a data limit, and once the threshold is broken, the person gets charged a ridiculous amount.
Google Stadia would shatter this threshold very fast as it requires a lot of data to stream an entire video game. So that is just even more money that would have to be spent to play Google Stadia. Making it essentially not an option in the gaming landscape and people with any sort of financial troubles.
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