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Why you should stop using Google Stadia

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GOOGLE STADIA IS DEAD!

Google discontinued Stadia on 2023, January 18th. Anybody who spent money on Stadia has lost it, or will lose it soon. I am a few months late to updating this project, I still expect to write further about this dead product.

Google Stadia was a rushed product that should have never been launched. Its only purpose was to dominate the cloud gaming industry. As like other Google services, it was destined to become a fat cat that did poorly, and that hardly anyone could get away from. Unlike other services, it started out as a fat cat, and died quickly because of it.

This repository will not be renamed, but Why you should have avoided Google Stadia is now the proper name.

What is Google Stadia

Wikipedia: Google Stadia

Stadia was a cloud gaming service developed and operated by Google. Known in development as Project Stream, the service debuted through a closed beta in October 2018, and publicly launched in November 2019. The service was to compete with Sony's PlayStation Plus cloud streaming, Nvidia's GeForce Now, Amazon's Luna, and Microsoft's Xbox Cloud Gaming. Stadia initially received a mixed reception from reviewers, with most criticism directed at its limited library of games and lack of promised features. Google had initially intended to develop in-house games in addition to hosting games produced by third parties, but abandoned this plan in February 2021, shutting down its studios. The service continued to sell third party games, and Google offered the game-streaming technology as a white-label product. Google announced in September 2022 that it would be shutting down Stadia; the service went offline permanently on January 18, 2023, at 11:59 PM PST.

Problems

Note These problems are measured with data from the years 2019 November to 2023 January. These will seem pretty inferior in the future (like how you can look back at the 8-bit NES and not realize that that was the cutting edge at the time, this doesn't make the NES bad) These problems target the time period of the end of the 8th generation of video game consoles, to the start of the 9th generation of video game consoles.

Note This also goes after some of the problems of cloud gaming in general.

Bad performance

Stadia had very bad performance compared to any other major service at the time. Most games that were advertised as 4K (3840x2160) only played at 1440p or 1080p, and had a very bad framerate, most games not playing at 30 frames per second very well, and those that did make it to 60 experienced significant lag and problems.

Poor selection of games

Compared to most other cloud gaming services at the time, Stadia had a poor selection of games, with only 1 exclusive. The only game known to have worked well on Stadia was Cyberpunk 2077.

Internet dependent

Stadia was reliant entirely on the Internet, meaning if the server was having a problem, you wouldn't be able to play games, even if you paid for them.

The games are not yours

Even if you paid for Stadia games, the games are not yours. Google could take away your access at any time, for any reason, with no warning.

Google Account

Using Google Stadia requires a Google Account, which violates user privacy and security.

Owned by Google

See above.

Alternatives

  • [Amazon Luna]
  • [Microsoft Game Pass]
  • [NVIDIA GeForce Now]
  • [PlayStation Plus Now]
  • No recommendable alternatives are available.

🌱️ This README.md file is a stub and needs expansion


File version: 1 (2023, Thursday, April 13th at 6:16 pm PST)