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Streaming will become the most economical way to play the latest games (and succeed because of it)

HanzSnubSnub

HanzSnubSnub

Member
Oct 27, 2017
917
Buying a console or PC makes for an expensive barrier to entry. Consoles range from $300 - $500, and a gaming PC can cost anywhere from $600 - $2000+ depending on your willingness to part with money.

These costs continue to rack up with mid-gen refreshes, CPU/GPU upgrades, paying to play online, and storage.

Using Google Stadia as an example since it's the only one with pricing available, the price of entry is $0/month for 1080p gaming and $10/month for 4K gaming. I'm sure XCloud and other streaming platforms will follow a similar pricing model, maybe even a better one such as Netflix of gaming.

Even so, streaming provides no need to spend money on hardware upgrades or online fees, because you will always be gaming on high end hardware managed by the streaming service. You can always play the latest games no matter what using any browser, smart TV, or smartphone. For example, using the premium Stadia tier for quality up to 4K.

5 year cost = $600
10 year cost = $1200

This is likely much cheaper than what many folks on era spend on gaming hardware and related costs.

And before many of you mention data caps and ISP charges, plenty of countries outside of the US have unlimited bandwidth internet available.

With hardware costs rising, streaming may just be the cheapest way to play the latest games in the future.
 
Son Lamar

Son Lamar

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
3,238
Alabama
Lmao you are so wrong the fact is not everyone wants a million subscriptions also some areas have frequent internet drops we will see tho
 
DNAbro

DNAbro

Member
Oct 25, 2017
25,874
This half feels like an ad. I'll see it when I believe it, streaming games sounds real unappealing as of late and you can't just hand wave Internet issues.
 
asmith906

asmith906

Member
Oct 27, 2017
27,359
This ignores things like the cost of internet needed to stream games at that quality. The fact that the games will still be $60. Or the fact you can get an xbox one s for super cheap, subscribe to game pass and have an entire collection of games to play with no additional purchases,
 
OrdinaryPrime

OrdinaryPrime

Self-requested ban
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
11,042
Stadia is launching in the US*, Canada*, UK and "most of Europe" in 2019.

* denotes places with bandwidth caps

Canada and the US have a combined population of 350 million give or take a few million. Even we assume that it's all of Europe, that's around 750 million, so basically limiting yourself in almost 33% of the markets initially. I feel like this is something Google will have to combat, either through lobbying or something else. It's a big part of their initial launch. Obviously not all of the US has data caps, I don't here in NC under Spectrum.

HanzSnubSnub said:
Not an ad. I'm just a casual who doesn't like to spend a lot of money on gaming...
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I feel like the future is going to be able to play console like experiences on your phone, through something like a Switch dock. Once phones get powerful enough, this idea that you'd need to stream through a server somewhere else just seems so silly.
 
Adamska

Adamska

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
7,042
If the service is solid, it'll do well, but consoles are not going away IMO.
 

Jest

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,565
Doesn't Stadia have a hardware device that's required? That's going to be refreshed a bunch just like consoles because why would Google leave that money on the table?
 
Tater

Tater

Member
Oct 30, 2017
2,583
You still have to buy the games individually, do you think you'll be able to get keys for those games any place other than Stadia? You'll be paying full MSRP, except for the occasional "sale".

Data caps will still be a issue. The US is a huge market, but not the only one. In the US, it will likely be more expensive to stream games since you'll need to pony up for a higher cap.

And let's not forget longevity. You're at Google's whim when you play via Stadia. Once their servers go down, your license is worthless.
 
OP
OP
HanzSnubSnub

HanzSnubSnub

Member
Oct 27, 2017
917
The 1080p option costs nothing and let's you play the latest games at a capped resolution of 1080p (which base consoles can barely do), that is extremely economical if all you care about is playing games
 
Nateo

Nateo

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,527
It wont succeed anytime soon because most of the world cant support it with their network infrastructure.

Also you still have to buy games under streaming services so far.
 
BadWolf

BadWolf

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
12,148
Streaming won't be saving you as much as you think, in the end you will likely be spending more.

Buying a physical console and games let's you buy stuff at way cheaper prices than MSRP. Consoles often end up having awesome bundle deals during black Fridays etc. and games can often be had much cheaper during sales, pre-order discounts etc. and can also be sold to get a good chunk of your money back.

With Stadia you don't have any of that. You will be buying everything from Google and at whatever price they want to throw at you.
 

skycamefalling

Banned
Jun 6, 2019
1,231
Lag and compression is a dealbreaker for me. But if it works for you, then god bless. The more people play games the better!
 
Walnut

Walnut

One Winged Slayer
Member
Nov 2, 2017
878
Austin, TX
Stadia is cheaper than a PS4 for about two years assuming you were paying for internet that can handle it anyway. You would need to be reeeeeally casual to make it cost effective, to the point of going months without playing games and cancelling your subscription
 
VariantX

VariantX

Member
Oct 25, 2017
16,880
Columbia, SC
EloKa said:
you are aware that you still have to buy the games... right?
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On top of that, you don't get the benefits of having paid for either physical or digital media either. The funny thing is, you can get plenty of games cheaper than MSRP on PC through legitimate key resellers or just wait a month or so for big box stores to drop the price into the gutter when dealing with physical media for consoles. You essentially have to hope the streaming service or whomever on the streaming service follows suit to match what the rest of the market is doing.
 
Deimos

Deimos

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,766
The lag makes competitive gaming impossible, so traditional hardware isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
 
PopsMaellard

PopsMaellard

The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
3,359
I live in a house with two other people and we hit our data cap like 3 weeks in to every month without fail.

Until ISP's become benevolent consumer focused corporations, streaming all of your games won't be viable at all.
 
OP
OP
HanzSnubSnub

HanzSnubSnub

Member
Oct 27, 2017
917
BadWolf said:
Streaming won't be saving you as much as you think, in the end you will likely be spending more.

Buying a physical console and games let's you buy stuff at way cheaper prices than MSRP. Consoles often end up having awesome bundle deals during black Fridays etc. and games can often be had much cheaper during sales, pre-order discounts etc. and can also be sold to get a good chunk of your money back.

With Stadia you don't have any of that. You will be buying everything from Google and at whatever price they want to throw at you.
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Won't Stadia/XCloud be just another marketplace, meaning the publisher sets the price and sales can still happen. What makes it different from PlayStation Store or any others?
 
Wamb0wneD

Wamb0wneD

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
18,735
You math only works if Stadia never inreases their subcription prices. Which they will at some point.
 
Digital-Kill3r-7

Digital-Kill3r-7

Banned
Jun 4, 2019
593
Lot of fervent defenders of the old guard, as usual. I imagine these are the same people that cried over the deaths of Blockbuster, music stores (I don't even remember what you'd call these), VHS players, DVD players, and flip phones. Gaming is such an immature industry. Imagine not being able to watch a movie because you bought the wrong $400 box. Unbelievable how many people think (and WANT) the status quo to continue. The future is absolutely streaming, subscriptions, and unboxed gaming. Can't wait.

You wonder why gaming is the red headed step child of media while you defend $400+ consoles. FOH.
 
Devilgunman

Devilgunman

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,451
$300-$500 for a console isn't that expensive at all when modern cell phone can cost as much as $1000.
 
Chaosblade

Chaosblade

Resettlement Advisor
Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,589
Streaming services won't remain cheap. TV replacement subscriptions started off cheap, and continually get more expensive year over year. The point of a subscription service is to create a continuous stream of revenue, which means a continuous cost for the customer.

Streaming services won't remain broad. Video streaming services continue to pop up with more exclusive content, requiring more subscriptions and more money. If you don't think publishers aren't going to form partnerships for exclusives, if not their own services, each requiring their own purchases and their own base fees, you're crazy.

Streaming services will have an effective monopoly on where you can buy your games, in a Stadia-like model. This means you are restricted to a single price point for a given game, no ability to buy used, or from an authorized third party key seller, etc. This generally means more expensive games, especially if games become exclusive to specific streaming platforms.

Streaming services will make some kinds of games impossible. While the lag is theoretically fine for the majority of games, a lot of rhythm based games will probably be negatively effected due to the need for very accurately synced audio and video cues. Something like Rocksmith simply wouldn't work over streaming.


That said, I do think it will probably take off if the platforms can get around the whole issue of awful North American ISPs.
 
danm999

danm999

Member
Oct 29, 2017
17,096
Sydney
It's going to depend if internet infrastructure keeps ahead of, and is economic to the end user, over the cost of local hardware.

Like when 8K comes along, what sort of bandwidth are you going to need to stream that well and how much is it going to cost in comparison to a console/PC?
 
statham

statham

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,449
FloRida
It is the future, and limit caps, will go away when 5G hits, as peeps use phone service as home service. Comcast crazy 1TB limit will go away in 2020.
 
PopsMaellard

PopsMaellard

The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
3,359
Devilgunman said:
$300-$500 for a console isn't that expensive at all when modern cell phone can cost as much as $1000.
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Admittedly the difference in the US is that phones are largely subsidized and people are much more on board with paying their service provider $70 a month for two years instead of dropping $1000 all at once. I'd imagine that to most people, blowing $400 on a console in one go is much less appealing than $60 on a game you can stream for free.
 
Shawcroft

Shawcroft

Member
Oct 29, 2017
361
Don't think the OP is true at all, but I could be wrong, the hell do I know.

One thing that stood out to me though, you use other countries as an excuse to ignore the data cap and ISP issues. Okay, but wasn't there just recently a survey based in Europe where people basically didn't give a shit about Stadia and streaming in general?

Streaming has its benefits and some people could be the perfect target audience for that, but I doubt it'll change the gaming world anytime soon.
 
Mechaplum

Mechaplum

Enlightened
Member
Oct 26, 2017
18,796
JP
Digital-Kill3r-7 said:
Lot of fervent defenders of the old guard, as usual. I imagine these are the same people that cried over the deaths of Blockbuster, music stores (I don't even remember what you'd call these), VHS players, DVD players, and flip phones. Gaming is such an immature industry. Imagine not being able to watch a movie because you bought the wrong $400 box. Unbelievable how many people think (and WANT) the status quo to continue. The future is absolutely streaming, subscriptions, and unboxed gaming. Can't wait.

You wonder why gaming is the red headed step child of media while you defend $400+ consoles. FOH.
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It's just your imagination, yeah.
 
Scarecrow

Scarecrow

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
3,510
I was going to get a new pc just for Cyberpunk and beyond, but I might just stream it if I can't get my system configured in time.
 
greenbird

greenbird

Teyvat Traveler
Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,094
Xfinity in my area = an extra $50 per month for unlimited, or $10 for every 50GB block beyond your data cap.

People think these ISPs will stop wanting that money and the caps will go away? I'll believe it when I see it. They've been conditioning people to accept caps here for a long time now.
 
Lothars

Lothars

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
9,765
Digital-Kill3r-7 said:
Lot of fervent defenders of the old guard, as usual. I imagine these are the same people that cried over the deaths of Blockbuster, music stores (I don't even remember what you'd call these), VHS players, DVD players, and flip phones. Gaming is such an immature industry. Imagine not being able to watch a movie because you bought the wrong $400 box. Unbelievable how many people think (and WANT) the status quo to continue. The future is absolutely streaming, subscriptions, and unboxed gaming. Can't wait.

You wonder why gaming is the red headed step child of media while you defend $400+ consoles. FOH.
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Lots of delusion in your post. Steaming is some part of the future but it's definitely not the whole future. It's also going to take alot longer for stradia or any streaming to catch on.
 
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