As part of GDC 2019, the search giant Google has introduced its own gaming platform. The novelty is called Stadia.
Stadia is a cloud platform in which all calculations will be carried out in data centers, and the picture will be broadcast to any screens and devices of users. These can be smartphones, televisions and, of course, personal computers.
The new platform will work closely with YouTube. The player will be able to watch a video with a stream of the game, and then click on the “play” button and instantly, without downloading any distribution, start playing. Also, with the help of new tools, players will be able to ask for advice in real time without leaving the game. For example, how to pass this or that moment.
But the launch and purchase of games will not be limited to YouTube or any one platform. It will be possible to start playing from any page on the Internet. For example, a user can launch a project by simply clicking on the title banner on Facebook, Twitter or anywhere else.
Stadia will not have any separate computing device. “Your console is our data centers,” said Phil Harrison, who heads Google’s work on the platform.
The only thing that Google has introduced from the point of view of hardware is a gamepad that connects directly to data centers via wi—fi and determines which device the player is currently planning to play from.
The platform will be able to play games in 4K, but in the future it is going to support 8K. The capabilities of Stadia will also allow not only to play in 4K, but also, by pressing just one button, immediately stream in 4K. HDR support is promised.
The only one of the announced projects, not counting Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, on which a closed platform test was conducted, for the site was Doom Eternal. They promise that it will be able to work in 4K resolution and will output 60 frames per second.
The performance that the new platform will provide will be about 10 teraflops, which is more than that of the previous generation consoles.
The launch of Stadia is planned for this year in the USA, Canada, the UK and in most of Europe. It is unknown whether the platform will be launched in Russia.
In addition to the platform, Google announced the launch of an internal studio that will create exclusives for Stadia. This studio was headed by Jade Raymond.
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