With the release of Google Stadia came a myriad of issues that have hurt the overall reputation of the new gaming “Platform.” But plenty of people still went and bout it at launch hopeful for a Netflix style streaming service, but are going to be disappointed by price gouging, still being locked by a console of sorts, internet service lockouts, and low player count.
Google was highly hopeful and tried to maximize the hype of gamers for their service but ended up with a highly specified product that didn’t appeal to the market or solve an issue in order to create a market. So here are 10 things we wished we knew before buying Google Stadia.
10 Lag
One of the biggest issues with Stadia is the lag. It’s a major complaint with the console where it takes several seconds for an input to be turned into a command into the game. So goodbye walking and stopping at an exact point to enter that heal house.
You got a monster chasing you and you need safety unless you master the delay, you’re good as dead. This issue is compounded with bad internet connections which will add to the delay, you can forget stadia if you run by satellite internet because some nights you might be lucky to get 1-15 frames per second.
9 Full Price Games
This is not a Netflix streaming service. You will pay full price for games, and there won’t be a used market because you won’t have used copies. Honestly, they are games that shouldn’t be full price being outdated. Modern games value depreciates really quickly and games that you would pay $20 or less for used are full price on Stadia.
Very unattractive if not insulting to gamers. The overall launch was really flimsy with inferior versions of games that are over 2 years old. To make matters worse DLC on games you already have will not cross over, meaning you have to pay for them again on Stadia.
8 Old Games
Stadia release was well-established games, with Destiny 2 being the biggest draw for people looking into Stadia. All games on the Stadia are all up to 2 years old with no newer titles available, and so far, nothing new coming out for Stadia in the foreseeable future.
You can forget the latest release games as to convert over to Stadia seems to be a delayed-release. You won’t see simultaneous releases for any new game either for a long time. The Stadia has a long time to catch up on releases to be officially a modern platform.
7 No Ownership of Games
Unfortunately with this streaming service, you’ll only be granted permission to play the game when buying it off Stadia. So in other words, you are paying full price upfront for an old game you have no ownership to.
6 Subscription
There is also an optional subscription service with Stadia that can offer some free games with it. However this is another payment model that adds further to the price you put out for the games you want.
Overall the service has little to offer up because of the low game library. At the price of $9.99 a month, it would have been best to hold out until the library grows.
5 No AAA Exclusives
One of the biggest draws to a console or platform is a AAA developer putting out an exclusive for a platform. It’s held together with the Xbox, Playstation, and Nintendo war as far as this point giving each console value with someone’s favorite game.
Google Stadia has none of that, it has a couple of indie exclusives that have no name and haven’t drawn in a lot of interest. It’s no big deal if a system has a bunch low-interest indie games you can find plenty of that on Google play, without Stadia.
4 No Family Share
This is a big hurt if you want different saves for family members and friends, you won’t have until 2020. At launch, you won’t have different family profiles so you will have to pay full price for multiple copies of the same 2-year-old game if you have family members who want to play using your Stadia controller.
So convenient that publisher gets paid more for a full-price game that you don’t own, they get to make double if not triple the money for the same game. The family share will become an option but it’s convenient for all except the consumer.
3 Only 4K on Pixel
You are buying a console, not every system can handle or are compatible with the Google Stadia. To make things worse you will not get the full performance or speed out of most Google devices. The best performance, aka the one advertised by Google, can only be obtained on the latest Google Pixel devices.
Yes, a tiny phone screen. You are locked out of the system in other words if you don’t have a Pixel, it sounds a bit like a console, something Google advertised the Stadia wasn’t going to be.
2 Internet Block
Internet performance is going to make all the difference in having a Stadia. Lag can only be controlled with good internet and being that playing a game is going to be constant use of your internet, limited plans with gigabyte limits are going to eventually run out you whole internet.
Dial-up and satellite internet packages are going to be difficult and show the worst of the console, which pretty much limits out most of the rural area U.S. Which further limits online games and makes it so you have to live in the city just to afford this “cheaper console-less” option.
1 Low Player Count
Because of a low debut of the Stadia, Destiny 2, the Stadia’s biggest draw has suffered in player count and in games like that need a high player count in order to make the game fun.
Add onto this cross-play is not coming until 2020, the player count on online games is suffering from low Stadia player count. Ironic as the most fun in the biggest game on their release is harmed by issues and low player count.
NEXT: Google Stadia: 5 Things We Love About It (& 5 Things We Already Hate)
