Engagdet: Google Stadia vs. Microsoft xCloud: Real-world comparison

[OneBadMutha]

Xcloud impressions have been that 60fps games feel much smoother so you're getting an advantage on Stadia that a game like Destiny can run at an increased frame rate. It makes sense that 30fps is going to feel worse through streaming. Eventually these Azure racks will have Scarlett APUs instead of S APUs and at that point, I don't see how Stadia competes without complete upheaval of their business model.

 

[bsigg]

This is baffling to me. Stadia streams - really well - up to 4k/60fps while xCloud maxes out at 720p and is more sluggish (I mean, it runs off of Xbox One S blades). But xCloud is more of a success because they didn't say it'd be 4k/60...?

Like, I know Destiny 2 is 1080p upscaled on Stadia, not 4k. But that's still higher res than anything you'll get on xCloud or PS Now and there are native 4k games available on Stadia like Shadow of the Tomb Raider. I realise that it's annoying that they once said 'everything 4k!' or whatever. And it feels like a burn that some games, like RDR2, render lower than they should do on the hardware available. But RDR2 streamed from xCloud would be rendering at 1080p/30fps and sent to you via a 720p video at it's absolute best. On Stadia it's 1440p/30fps or 1080p/unlocked (targeting 60fps). I just can't fathom that one is more of a success than the other because someone once sent a bad tweet.

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If MS was positioning xCloud as a replacement for consoles and the way to play games on your TV, Stadia would clearly have the lead in regards to tech. That's not the focus of xCloud though and I doubt we see a true TV focused implementation until they upgrade xCloud with Scarlett components.

xCloud first and foremost is a solution to playing your games while you're away from your console via your phone. In that sense due to the available library and the moves MS are already making towards bolstering that, xCloud is ahead of Stadia and for the foreseeable future will always have more content available than Stadia will.

 

[Granadier]

Poor controller

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These look like clips from a movie/commercial where the actor is trying to look like they're actually playing video games.

 

[OneBadMutha]

It's certainly not implemented yet. I'm sure it's in research. It's a tricky problem.

On your first note - despite a lot of expectation that Stadia and xCloud would advance the technical state of the art in a way that would leave PSNow in the dust, latency wise that just doesn't seem to have manifested at all. Resolution wise Stadia is ahead for now.

In terms of low latency streaming at HD resolutions, though, beyond the x264 work done at Gaikai several years ago, it seems like no one has moved the needle much more since. Which is a shame, because by no means is it a perfect endpoint. Short of the network improving, maybe we'll have to get into hybrid solutions, with client side interaction processing, or predictive solutions, before we see a big step forward.

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People report latency but I haven't heard anyone say it was still at Gaikai levels. In fact have heard from those that tried PS Now and Nvidia Shield that these services feel like witch-craft in comparison.

 

[fiendcode]

Xcloud impressions have been that 60fps games feel much smoother so you're getting an advantage on Stadia that a game like Destiny can run at an increased frame rate. It makes sense that 30fps is going to feel worse through streaming. Eventually these Azure racks will have Scarlett APUs instead of S APUs and at that point, I don't see how Stadia competes without complete upheaval of their business model.

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Stadia blades are designed to be stackable to increase performance and future proof the platform.

 

[Pryme]

Remember when everyone was raving about the Stadia beta?

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different expectations for a beta...and it was free after all.

xCloud already dodges most of the criticism Stadia is facing due to the much bigger game library...and it being set up as an option to a local console, or a value adding service on top of Your existing console.

 

[gofreak]

People report latency but I haven't heard anyone say it was still at Gaikai levels. In fact have heard from those that tried PS Now and Nvidia Shield that these services feel like witch-craft in comparison.

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Gaikai was kind of already an advance over Onlive. And maybe I'm remembering incorrectly, but in DF's measurements of latency, of the Onlive to Gaikai to PSNow to Stadia evolution, at least, the last big notable improvement was in Onlive to Gaikai. PSNow was similar to Gaikai, Stadia similar to PSNow. Looking at DF's numbers for Stadia vs PSNow, reading impressions in the xCloud thread here, and looking at the latency I've seen in videos - there's the same outliers and variance in different people's experience of different services, but I don't see a consistent impression of 'witchcraft' for Stadia/xCloud vs what came before. In general they seem to offer a very similar story wrt latency - better in some games than others, better for some people than for others, notable but not horrific latency for most. DF's measured latency in Stadia/PSNow are similar. We'll see what xCloud looks like on their end, but based on impressions, I don't expect any big advance.

 

[Lunatic]

Poor controller

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What insane people keep their finger so far away from the bumpers until they need to press them???

 

[gblues]

I'm still not understanding the hub bub about the 4k60. I always figured they meant for streaming. What platform holder can guarantee the performance of 3rd party games? In Google's case they can only talk about the streaming end they control.

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Google made deceptive claims that purposefully failed to distinguish stream quality from game performance—which they absolutely can control considering they own the hardware and have influence as platform holders.

 

[BlueManifest]

This is a really weird conclusion. Stadia is better but the messaging was bad so that this other service still in beta running at half the resolution with slightly worse performance is better?

I mean they shouldn't really be comparing them until Xcloud launches and they can properly test them out. As much as Google's messaging has been poor and how half baked Stadia has been in terms of features at launch, it's not exactly a shock that launch ports like Destiny and Read Dead aren't optimized very well for the Stadia blade.

I don't blame them for doing the comparison, but still a weird conclusion to come to.

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Sounds like an excuse that was written by an Xbox fanboy or something, making an excuse for something not performing as good

 

[Letters]

Poor controller

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This is like when porn actors play videogames in the movies

 

[score01]

Remember when everyone was raving about the Stadia beta?

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Maybe they should have compared the betas against each other 😂

 

[NekuWitTheDraco74]

When I've tried xcloud , I've only experienced lag twice, in gears 5 and halo 5, other than that it's not that noticeable.

 

[AtomicShroom]

These look like clips from a movie/commercial where the actor is trying to look like they're actually playing video games.

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I didn't know Mario Party was on Stadia. :o

 

[jett]

This is kind of a mostly useless comparison without a single objective metric within.

 

[disco_potato]

Xcloud impressions have been that 60fps games feel much smoother so you're getting an advantage on Stadia that a game like Destiny can run at an increased frame rate. It makes sense that 30fps is going to feel worse through streaming. Eventually these Azure racks will have Scarlett APUs instead of S APUs and at that point, I don't see how Stadia competes without complete upheaval of their business model.

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How long after release will they switch to scarlett blades?It wouldn't be for at least a couple years, I'd think, right? Also, does MS count their own blades as xbox hardware sales?

 

[Bahlor]

Xcloud has the games and stadia the far superior tech, especially in terms of latency. I still can't believe how good it works and how close to local experiences it feels. But they really need to get stuff done and add more games, also they might need to rethink how they want to make money with this service. Gamepass easily wins in this area.

 

[pg2g]

I wonder how much lag Bluetooth is adding to xCloud (assuming that's how it is connected). Isn't Bluetooth pretty laggy?

 

[disco_potato]

When I've tried xcloud , I've only experienced lag twice, in gears 5 and halo 5, other than that it's not that noticeable.

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I only noticed lag here and there over 4g. Decreased visuals were easily noticeable.
Do you normally play on a TV with game mode turned off and various other filters enabled to make it look best? Latency on stadia/xcloud is not easily noticeable if you're used to playing on high latency TVs. It's very apparent if you play with game mode on.

 

[Tailzo]

So in terms of tech stadia>xcloud>Psnow( just because they don't have much data centers).

In term of content Psnow>xcloud>satdia

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I am currently trying PSNow and I'm really not impressed by the library. Are you sure xcloud isn't a lot better? I mean I haven't tried xcloud, but I always read about how awesome gamepass is.

 

[jroc74]

The big difference is, Microsoft isn't dangling a 4K carrot in front of its early players. It's taking things slow and steady.

We all know how that race turns out.

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Yup. They learned from XBO launch. Good sign for the Scarlett launch.

Too much too soon with regards to Stadia is what happened with the XBO launch IMO.

 

[Nif]

Stadia latency feels head and shoulders better than XCloud. It's currently the leader in that regard. From what I've seen from Digital Foundry and experienced in Destiny, 60FPS stadia latency is comparable to 30FPS console games. They're apparently doing this while sending a 4k/60 5.1 HDR signal to your TV, which makes the whole thing really impressive technically speaking. It's too bad they can't seem to get their games to actually run at that resolution.

 

[upinsmoke]

Not played Stadia but in every game I've played with xcloud I've experienced lag over 5ghz 100down wifi connection that is worse than what I've experienced with PSNow and Geforce Now.

 

[ConHaki66]

MS isn't telling you xcloud is going to compete with next-gen consoles and aren't positioning it as such. If you want to play your current library away from you console xcloud is a good option

 

[pswii60]

Why wasn't PS Now in the mix?

 

[Saci do PXB]

This is baffling to me. Stadia streams - really well - up to 4k/60fps while xCloud maxes out at 720p and is more sluggish (I mean, it runs off of Xbox One S blades). But xCloud is more of a success because they didn't say it'd be 4k/60...?

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From what I've read in many places, the main criticism rests on the business model, which doesn't look appealing for the content offered in return.
Google Stadia markets "forget consoles, we have all you need". MS and Sony (why PS Now never came to this comparisons???), they're trying to offer more choices to play, but don't intent to abandon the dedicated hardware for better experiences. So, MS and Sony don't need to sell the 4K streaming right now, while Stadia needs to prove it can be a great substitute for many.

 

[Deleted member 17207]

farming simulator is a stressful game complicated profession

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FTFY

 

[gofreak]

Why wasn't PS Now in the mix?

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I'd guess because it's not 'new', this year, while Stadia and xCloud have both become available in one form or another in the last month or so. But as a yardstick for comparison I think it would be appropriate in articles like this to include it - especially to see to what degree, if any, the technology has improved over time, and on what fronts.

 

[NekuWitTheDraco74]

I only noticed lag here and there over 4g. Decreased visuals were easily noticeable.
Do you normally play on a TV with game mode turned off and various other filters enabled to make it look best? Latency on stadia/xcloud is not easily noticeable if you're used to playing on high latency TVs. It's very apparent if you play with game mode on.

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I'm not a hundred percent sure, my tv is 4 yrs old 😅 didn't pay attention to a lot of important stuff when I was 18

 

[Governergrimm]

.

I am currently trying PSNow and I'm really not impressed by the library. Are you sure xcloud isn't a lot better? I mean I haven't tried xcloud, but I always read about how awesome gamepass is.

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xCloud doesn't have the gamepass library yet. It's also the only one in beta and not charging money

 

[80s Old School]

I don't know if people really don't have comprehension skills are are willfully ignorant to war for platforms, but this video is a simple comparison between two new streaming services. It's not a review or to be used as a tool to decide which service is better. Maybe people are confused because they didn't watch the video. Google promised something, the failed at it. Xcloud promised nothing, so no failure because no stakes. That's all. The rest of the video is stating facts and making comparisons. All this talk of how she uses the controller (porn actress?) is just people trying to discredit her whether they realize it or not. She could be beating on it with a stick, it wouldn't change the information in the video. Sometimes Era's obsession with winners and looses actually takes away from any decent discussion.

 

[disco_potato]

I'm not a hundred percent sure, my tv is 4 yrs old 😅 didn't pay attention to a lot of important stuff when I was 18

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That was sort of the point of my post. If you're used to playing on your TV and that has 100+ ms input lag, then yeah, xcloud/stadia feel the same. But TVs these days have input lag of like 10-15msin game mode and the difference between that and 100 is noticeable. Even to old farts like myself.

 

[Jade1962]

Google made deceptive claims that purposefully failed to distinguish stream quality from game performance—which they absolutely can control considering they own the hardware and have influence as platform holders.

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They can control the claims or the game performance?

 

[JustP_Gaming]

The biggest difference between the two actually goes beyond the streaming itself.

Stadia is the product. Weather you're a Pro subscriber or not, you have to buy the games full price and streaming is the only way to consume them.
Content is severely lacking as well, at least for now.

Xcloud is a feature. A cool feature to use when you're on the go (break time at work, Hotel etc...). When you're at home you go back to playing locally
at the highest possible fidelity. Game saves travel back and forward. Massive library of games.

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Very well put.

 

[thebishop]

Gaikai was kind of already an advance over Onlive. And maybe I'm remembering incorrectly, but in DF's measurements of latency, of the Onlive to Gaikai to PSNow to Stadia evolution, at least, the last big notable improvement was in Onlive to Gaikai. PSNow was similar to Gaikai, Stadia similar to PSNow. Looking at DF's numbers for Stadia vs PSNow, reading impressions in the xCloud thread here, and looking at the latency I've seen in videos - there's the same outliers and variance in different people's experience of different services, but I don't see a consistent impression of 'witchcraft' for Stadia/xCloud vs what came before. In general they seem to offer a very similar story wrt latency - better in some games than others, better for some people than for others, notable but not horrific latency for most. DF's measured latency in Stadia/PSNow are similar. We'll see what xCloud looks like on their end, but based on impressions, I don't expect any big advance.

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I've tried basically every service, and I think Xcloud and Stadia represent a 'generational' improvement in streaming experience. Maybe the problem is that PS Now is tied to PS3 and PS4 hardware poorly optimized before low latency streaming, but I don't find streaming on PS Now to be playable. With Stadia at least on Destiny, I'm happy with the perception of input response. I've played enough of that game on PS4, and I don't have any palpable adjustment to muscle memory playing on Stadia. Xcloud is less impressive because it's fixed at 720p and my phone screen, but I also felt good playing Halo Infinite. When I miss a headshot, it's from my own lack of reflex rather than the tech failing me. When I play Uncharted 4, or worse a PS3 game like MGS4 on PS Now, I feel like the tech is not up to the task for more than previewing or briefly revisiting a game.

Stadia really deserves a shoutout on the video quality front also. Even on the Chrome browser which is not the pristine 4k stream, it still looks a hell of a lot better than any other streaming service. I've played Ghost Recon Wildlands on Geforce Now, and not only was it constantly disconnecting, but macroblocking was very noticeable. If your connection is stable, Stadia's 1080p stream is a step up from every other cloud option to date. I just played an hour of Destiny 2 on my family's 25Mb/s wifi connection and had 0 visual hitches the whole time. On 4k it's close to perfect. Looking at the chromecast version on my 4k tv, it's hard to tell the difference from a direct hdmi output. No other streaming I've tried is close to Stadia, including local streaming options like Steam Link.

 

[gblues]

They can control the claims or the game performance?

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Both.

Users certainly don't have a say in the settings!

Google controls the game settings, which in turn controls the game's performance. Now, clearly, it's up to the game developer to determine the overall performance profile, but even here Google has some control because as platform holder, they can gate Stadia releases based on their ability to meet a minimum performance profile. They probably won't because right now they have no leverage.

But we're still talking past the actual problem: Google has marketed the service fraudulently.

 

[xabbott]

I'd guess because it's not 'new', this year, while Stadia and xCloud have both become available in one form or another in the last month or so. But as a yardstick for comparison I think it would be appropriate in articles like this to include it - especially to see to what degree, if any, the technology has improved over time, and on what fronts.

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I think one of the reason's PSNow wasn't included is despite all the time its been around Sony's been changing what it is and what it runs on. I actually thought it was available to all Android/iOS users but it doesn't seem to be.
I thought at one time it was available on atleast Sony's phones but they don't even mention that now. So they wouldn't have a test that allows you to compare all three. Xcloud doesn't have a windows client yet. Sony doesn't have a mobile client. And Google/MS don't have a PS4 app. I double checked and Sony says PS Now is only available on PS4 and PC. It is not currently supported by smart TVs, smartphones or tablets.

 

[DisturbedSwan]

the controller looks hella cheap

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I've got my Stadia controller next to me right now and I can categorically tell you that the Stadia controller is built like a brick shithouse. It is the most sturdy and weighty controller I've held and is phenomenally good.

 

[thebishop]

I don't know if people really don't have comprehension skills are are willfully ignorant to war for platforms, but this video is a simple comparison between two new streaming services. It's not a review or to be used as a tool to decide which service is better. Maybe people are confused because they didn't watch the video. Google promised something, the failed at it. Xcloud promised nothing, so no failure because no stakes. That's all. The rest of the video is stating facts and making comparisons. All this talk of how she uses the controller (porn actress?) is just people trying to discredit her whether they realize it or not. She could be beating on it with a stick, it wouldn't change the information in the video. Sometimes Era's obsession with winners and looses actually takes away from any decent discussion.

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Stadia "failed" at providing 4k the same way PS4 Pro and (to a lesser extent) Xbox One X "failed" to provide it. Everything about the connection from the rendered frame to your chromecast is 4k60 hdr. It's the games that are not achieving 4k60. Maybe the best port so far is Shadow of the Tomb Raider which has a 4k / 60 toggle. I think people are rightly pissed at the language around this, and Phil Harrison encouraged the impression. But Stadia is a 4k60 platform. The problems we're seeing are kind of normal launch window shit. We're gonna have to see optimization to games, and the development libraries. Maybe the beginnings of parallel processing if that's not marketing hype. And not in the too distant future, they're gonna have to start announcing server upgrades. There's a clear path to improvement here. Even if the GPU is only a Vega56, a properly optimized game can do more than we're seeing.

 

[Mr_DyZ]

This is baffling to me. Stadia streams - really well - up to 4k/60fps while xCloud maxes out at 720p and is more sluggish (I mean, it runs off of Xbox One S blades). But xCloud is more of a success because they didn't say it'd be 4k/60...?

Like, I know Destiny 2 is 1080p upscaled on Stadia, not 4k. But that's still higher res than anything you'll get on xCloud or PS Now and there are native 4k games available on Stadia like Shadow of the Tomb Raider. I realise that it's annoying that they once said 'everything 4k!' or whatever. And it feels like a burn that some games, like RDR2, render lower than they should do on the hardware available. But RDR2 streamed from xCloud would be rendering at 1080p/30fps and sent to you via a 720p video at it's absolute best. On Stadia it's 1440p/30fps or 1080p/unlocked (targeting 60fps). I just can't fathom that one is more of a success than the other because someone once sent a bad tweet.

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Not sure what's too confusing about that. One's in early access (basically alpha), and the other is being marketed as a finished and polished product with 4K/60 (which seems to have been mostly debunked by people who have it). Also, I think most trust Microsoft with xCloud vs. Google with Stadia. Google has notoriously given up on products, while the other has a track record in the gaming industry.

 

[Deleted member 51848]

Xcloud for me has been solid. I've been mostly impressed. My worst experience so far has been Forza. Imho the input lag, whilst not awful, makes it borderline unplayable.

 

[thebishop]

I've got my Stadia controller next to me right now and I can categorically tell you that the Stadia controller is built like a brick shithouse. It is the most sturdy and weighty controller I've held and is phenomenally good.

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The ergonomics are really good. If anything the features are too conservative. I would've liked it to have a microphone and speaker built in for assistant. IMO it should be a platform development goal to get the controller paired on a new wifi/client without using the phone app. It should be stupid easy to take a pad to a friends house and play either split screen or on an extra laptop sitting around.

 

[80s Old School]

Stadia "failed" at providing 4k the same way PS4 Pro and (to a lesser extent) Xbox One X "failed" to provide it. Everything about the connection from the rendered frame to your chromecast is 4k60 hdr. It's the games that are not achieving 4k60. Maybe the best port so far is Shadow of the Tomb Raider which has a 4k / 60 toggle. I think people are rightly pissed at the language around this, and Phil Harrison encouraged the impression. But Stadia is a 4k60 platform. The problems we're seeing are kind of normal launch window shit. We're gonna have to see optimization to games, and the development libraries. Maybe the beginnings of parallel processing if that's not marketing hype. And not in the too distant future, they're gonna have to start announcing server upgrades. There's a clear path to improvement here. Even if the GPU is only a Vega56, a properly optimized game can do more than we're seeing.

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OK everything you said is true, but the statement remains launch issues or not games are not 4k native. I will say xbox 1st party games since the one x have all been 4k native. Basically all the games Microsoft can directly control. Stadia promises superior hardware and I, like most people, assumed all games would be 4k 60 due the hardware. The better question is why are they selling stadia if "optimization issues" are still a problem? Seems like a beta product they are charging for.

 

[ss_lemonade]

I'm still not understanding the hub bub about the 4k60. I always figured they meant for streaming. What platform holder can guarantee the performance of 3rd party games? In Google's case they can only talk about the streaming end they control.

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Then why would they claim on twitter that you can play games like RDR 2 at 4k 60fps max settings?

Edit:
Huh, just realized they deleted the tweet

 

[thebishop]

OK everything you said is true, but the statement remains launch issues or not games are not 4k native. I will say xbox 1st party games since the one x have all been 4k native. Basically all the games Microsoft can directly control. Stadia promises superior hardware and I, like most people, assumed all games would be 4k 60 due the hardware. The better question is why are they selling stadia if "optimization issues" are still a problem? Seems like a beta product they are charging for.

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It is a beta product they are charging for. I don't think this platform has "launched" at least until the free version is out. I'm really interested to know how far after the 3 month bundle expires will free users have to wait to start buying games. Also the fact that their platform functionality is starting at a lower level is a huge problem. Until the controller works wirelessly on all platforms, until there's an achievement system and some of the family share features are in place, it's still gonna feel like a beta service. Google has a lot of work ahead of them. What's impressive is that they've executed the hardest part of this technology so well that they have time to develop everything else.

 

[RavenH2]

The biggest difference between the two actually goes beyond the streaming itself.

Stadia is the product. Weather you're a Pro subscriber or not, you have to buy the games full price and streaming is the only way to consume them.
Content is severely lacking as well, at least for now.

Xcloud is a feature. A cool feature to use when you're on the go (break time at work, Hotel etc...). When you're at home you go back to playing locally
at the highest possible fidelity. Game saves travel back and forward. Massive library of games.

Click to shrink...

If Microsoft truly manages to achieve this, they will hit a Home Run, nobody will care about 720p, at least not the massive market at which xCloud will be aimed at. Meanwhile Stadia will get it's fair share of players. But the most enthusiastic and lag sensitive gamers will still pick locally.

However I'm interested in what both Stadia, xCloud and other services (PSNow, Apple, Amazon, etc) can bring new to the table that simply can't be done locally.

 

[OneBadMutha]

How long after release will they switch to scarlett blades?It wouldn't be for at least a couple years, I'd think, right? Also, does MS count their own blades as xbox hardware sales?

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I have no idea. Not sure anyone does. Microsoft seems to be keeping all that stuff close.

Not sure what's too confusing about that. One's in early access (basically alpha), and the other is being marketed as a finished and polished product with 4K/60 (which seems to have been mostly debunked by people who have it). Also, I think most trust Microsoft with xCloud vs. Google with Stadia. Google has notoriously given up on products, while the other has a track record in the gaming industry.

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I don't consider either finished products. Google's issue is trying to sell a beta for full price.

For me and I think most of today's traditional gaming consumers, streaming is a compliment. Thing is when the real 5G is a thing, I expect everyone to be capable of respectable streaming as long as there is a data center in the region. Mike Ybarra, who just left Microsoft, went as far to say microsoft will have no advantage with Xcloud as everyone will be doing it in a few years. He's the one executive who's been in the trenches with the platform, Game Pass and streaming for the past few years. 5G will cut latency exponentially and have far higher data caps...if they data cap gaming at all. Right now gaming companies are working with service providers for data cap workarounds.

The point is the pissing contest between Microsoft, Sony and Google in terms of streaming capabilities wont be a thing in the long term. Short term, it'll depend on provider, location and game fps and likely work better for some games than others. Key really is about the other qol features, the UI, content and value. Microsoft seems to have a strategy that makes sense there. Google does not. Sony, with nothing on the board right now, is far ahead of Google because in 2 years they'll be able to do it and have content to lead. Google just doesn't make sense to me at this point. I have to assume this isn't their real business model.

 

[gofreak]

I've tried basically every service, and I think Xcloud and Stadia represent a 'generational' improvement in streaming experience. Maybe the problem is that PS Now is tied to PS3 and PS4 hardware poorly optimized before low latency streaming, but I don't find streaming on PS Now to be playable. With Stadia at least on Destiny, I'm happy with the perception of input response. I've played enough of that game on PS4, and I don't have any palpable adjustment to muscle memory playing on Stadia. Xcloud is less impressive because it's fixed at 720p and my phone screen, but I also felt good playing Halo Infinite. When I miss a headshot, it's from my own lack of reflex rather than the tech failing me. When I play Uncharted 4, or worse a PS3 game like MGS4 on PS Now, I feel like the tech is not up to the task for more than previewing or briefly revisiting a game.

Stadia really deserves a shoutout on the video quality front also. Even on the Chrome browser which is not the pristine 4k stream, it still looks a hell of a lot better than any other streaming service. I've played Ghost Recon Wildlands on Geforce Now, and not only was it constantly disconnecting, but macroblocking was very noticeable. If your connection is stable, Stadia's 1080p stream is a step up from every other cloud option to date. I just played an hour of Destiny 2 on my family's 25Mb/s wifi connection and had 0 visual hitches the whole time. On 4k it's close to perfect. Looking at the chromecast version on my 4k tv, it's hard to tell the difference from a direct hdmi output. No other streaming I've tried is close to Stadia, including local streaming options like Steam Link.

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I think I have your case covered in my post - 'the variance of experience different people have on different services'. Some people experience the opposite that you do. Many seem to have an 'OK' or 'good' experience with many services. To the extent we have one source providing measured data - DF is the only I've found - there's nothing to suggest it's a generation ahead on latency.

(It wouldn't surprise me if, on average, one service or the other was providing better latency by the way. That's a different point, one that's impossible to quantify. Reading around impressions on all these services, though, it remains the case that for most, latency is perceptible, variable, still game dependent... and again, measurably similar by DF's yardstick. IMO that makes sense - I don't think there's been any massive software stack breakthroughs in low latency streaming since h264/vp9 variants etc. and the benefit of the hardware/infrastructure side to a consumer is, as ever, going to be completely variable depending on their own network locality.)

 

[chromatic9]

Good summary but they're lifting other peoples data. Perhaps they can update the video when some poor soul does the extensive lag tests for xcloud.

Also feels like they're trying to tap into the hardcore gamer reaction of overpromising but that aside if I was forced to play one I'd pick Stadia.

 

[fiendcode]

I think I have your case covered in my post - 'the variance of experience different people have on different services'. Some people experience the opposite that you do. Many seem to have an 'OK' or 'good' experience with many services. To the extent we have one source providing measured data - DF is the only I've found - there's nothing to suggest it's a generation ahead on latency.

(It wouldn't surprise me if, on average, one service or the other was providing better latency by the way. That's a different point, one that's impossible to quantify. Reading around impressions on all these services, though, it remains the case that for most, latency is perceptible, variable, still game dependent... and again, measurably similar by DF's yardstick. IMO that makes sense - I don't think there's been any massive software stack breakthroughs in low latency streaming since h264/vp9 variants etc. and the benefit of the hardware/infrastructure side to a consumer is, as ever, going to be completely variable depending on their own network locality.)

Click to shrink...

DF's measurements are years apart and done by different individuals in different locations on different devices though, possibly by using different methods for measurement too. And even then there's a clear latentcy advantage for Stadia over PSNow (particularly in the best case scenarios), I think you're stretching things by saying they're really that similar.

We really do need a more current set of direct tests, although with PSNow likely moving to Azure it might not matter as much.