Behemoths beware: the
Stadia controller’s central
buttons are very tiny.
streamed solution just isn’t there
yet. 5G networks, for example, are
still being tested, meaning most
consumers will not be able to use
this technology any time soon, let
alone on all devices at any time.
That barrier isn’t something you
can punch through with capital.”
We’re willing to bet that Google will
give it a shot, though—if anyone has
the bucks, it does.
Weekers isn’t the only one
unconvinced by Stadia. Another
successful service of this sort is
Jump, an indie-focused platform
with a subscription fee of just $5
a month. With a curated library
of over 100 indie titles, Jump
recognized the hurdles to cloud-
based gaming early on. Its
HyperJump progressive download
technology downloads games in
small segments, then removes
them once they’re done being used,
giving the impression of a fully
installed game. This tech adapts to
the user, keeping data from popular
games cached to minimize load
times. Games can even be played in
a browser—when we reached out to
it, Jump was keen to emphasize the
advancements in modern browser-
based gaming, from speedy load
times to shareable links to games
and embedded demos. We gave
Jump a go, and found that indie
games could run flawlessly even
on an iMac, in Chrome, with a dozen
other tabs open. Somehow our
computer didn’t catch fire.
Jump CEO Anthony Palma
voiced concerns about pricing and
latency, commenting that “latency
is inescapable in streaming until 5G
and fiber are in every household,”
adding “I think streaming has
potential to be a gamer’s console
replacement... in 10 years.” Jump
views subscription gaming as
a “complement rather than a
replacement” for user-ownership.
Palma likened it to movies moving
from the theater to subscriptionservices; both are key revenue
streams for the movie industry.STADIUM LOVE
So, Google Stadia. It’s a cool name,
we’ll give it that. Better than the
achingly dull-titled Project Stream,
which Google ran last year as a
then-suspected, now-confirmed
beta test for Stadia. Project Stream
(ugh) saw recent releases such as
Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey running
at 30fps and 1080p in ordinary
browsers. The lower frame rate
and resolution gave Project Stream
space to mask latency issues, and
Odyssey isn’t a game that demands
frame-perfect button inputs.
Stadia, though, promises up to
4K 60fps gameplay with minimal
latency. It’s a bold claim, and one
that comes with the caveat of an
Ethernet connection with high
Internet speed.
Stadia’s fundamental systems
work using familiar hardware;
input is streamed directly to a
Google server running your game
of choice in one of its many data
centers, which feeds back live
video of the game to your device.
AMD was pleased to announce its
partnership with Google, its top-end
data center GPUs powering Stadia’s
actual gameplay—although Google
has been tight-lipped about the
specifics, it’s been revealed that the
CPUs are actually Intel-powered.
Stadia is promised to run on an
assortment of desktops, laptops,
smartphones, and tablets, although
any mention of iOS was conspicuous
by its absence in project leader Phil
Harrison’s presentation at GDC- Predictably, Apple revealed
Playing games over a stream is a tricky business,
not least become some games stream better than
others. One of the key benefits of cloud gaming
is the fact that it enables games to be played at a
high level of graphical quality (thanks to powerful
data center GPUs) on even the most basic devices.
In theory, if you’ve got a screen and an Internet
connection, you should be able to instantly play
games on ultra graphical settings. In practice, not
every service has managed to deliver this. We’ve
been banging on about latency a lot in this article,
we know, but the fact is that it tends to tank a lot of
fast-paced games. With that in mind, what are some
good games to play over cloud gaming platforms?
Turn-based strategy and RPG games are
excellent, particularly ones that are less visually
demanding. Indie gem Into The Breach is an ideal
example of a game that runs perfectly when
streamed, regardless of connection speed. Even
real-time strategy titles such as To t al War function
reasonably well. Doom Eternal has been touted as
the first triple-A launch title for Stadia, which is
exciting—if it runs well. Demos we’ve seen so far
have been visually appealing, but input lag means
the game can stutter badly, leading to gameplay
issues and an overabundance of motion blur.
The games that really suffer when run on cloud-
based platforms are online multiplayer titles. Want
to stream Apex Legends or Call of Duty? Well,
your input needs to go from the controller to your
console or computer, then to the data center where
the game is hosted, then to the game’s own servers,
then all the way back again. Latency will shatter
any notion of quick reaction times. Rocket League?
Yeah, good luck with that.Doom Eternal on Stadia felt a little rough around the
edges when demoed at GDC.GAME ON
cloud gaming
38 MAXIMUMPC JUN 2019 maximumpc.com