Will Elite Dangerous make it to Google's Streaming Console?

[Vedmo]

Ok that makes sense, thanks.

 

[TheSisko]

What about the latency though? ED needs 1:1 stuff in combat.

I doubt if there's going to be anything stopping combat games being on streaming services. Forza Horizon 4 was already demoed on xCloud recently.

Latency is an issue but the tech to deal with that will improve, to the point where games like ED will be playable. Local hardware like PCs and Consoles will offer the premium gaming experience for those willing to pay for that hardware.

For those who just want to play a game, now, without up-front costs or installation delays, and who don't care about 1:1 latency or TFLOPS or resolution, the streaming services will be a good, cheaper option. Bandwidth and data caps permitting of course, which isn't an issue in much of Europe at least.

 

[TheSisko]

It's not the first attempt at streaming. The others failed ...

Let's assume for a moment that the claims that Fdev were thinking of the next gen consoles in 2020 are true. Those are still going ahead, despite this announcement from google. If - if - Fdev wanted to convert their games (plural) from cobra to work with google's system, it would be an additional step to gain potential additional customers outside of the existing pc/microsoft/sony customer base. It won't be developed now for googles system, but converted later once complete. Post 2020.

In summary, meh.

I'm sure most third-party developers will be planning ahead to get their content on as many future platforms as possible. That just good business. Stadia is due for launch this year so I'm imagine some developers (and game engine developers) have been working on Stadia for a while. I'd be surprised if Frontier aren't already thinking about getting their content on there to reach a wider audience.

And if ED on Stadia means more players, more money being made by the game for Frontier and therefore expamding the lifetime of the game, then I don't see an issue with that.

Yes, other streaming attempts failed, but I doubt if any of those previous companies were as big as Google, or if they had YouTube and the world's most popular search engine to help them sell and advertise games directly to potential players.

Imagine doing a search on Google for ED and seeing a 'Play ED right NOW on Stadia!' message at the top of the search results. You could do it too. No need to purchase hardware, no need to download the game. Just click, and boom, you're in. Whipping Asp Scouts for fun in a 10.7 TF instance.