What do you mean end up with much… isn’t it nada? You don’t get a thing from Stadia right. You paid your money, and when you stop doing that or they end it it all just… ends. You keep, nothing.
Well, you get a chromecast ultra and a gamepad, at least in the early release window.
Well you’re right, that is something.
For this Xbox plan, if they finish the two years, and do nothing else, they should have an console and a controller… and like zero content, unless they buy outside it which would kind of defeat the point a little.
Right, if you choose not to upgrade you keep the Xbone.
Ugh… We have phone like business models in gaming now even though unlike 1200 USD phones, some of these consoles you could pick up pretty darn cheap on sale, especially used, with no commitments.
It’s just an additional option. Not one many of us, myself included, see as very attractive. I assume they’ve done their homework and figure there are folks out there that really want a rent-to-own Xbox.
Which they can already do through places like Rent a Center / Aarons… that type but… this gives them the online service those others places don’t. I wonder if their customer base will mostly take from that and maybe layaway crowds and not really pull from everyone else.
It will be perfectly fine once that $1 MSGPU deal is over, basically paying for the console + MSGPU amortized over 2 years. Even then it won’t be a good deal, as you’re still paying full price and the console is frequently discounted, but it won’t be ridiculously poor like today.
Lots of people on a budget find a monthly fee much more palatable than buying upfront. They usually get screwed to the wall, but this one won’t be bad soon enough.
Will Stadia run on a regular chromecast or does it need the ultra to do the streaming properly at 1080p with low latency?
If not that’s a big difference because while a chromecast itself is useful without Stadia, for most people I’d bet a Chromecast ultra isn’t that much more useful than a chromecast without Stadia.
Ultra is only needed for 4k streaming - regular Chromecasts (and maybe even SmartTVs?) should be able to do 1080p
From their FAQ:
Which Chromecast devices are compatible with Stadia?
For launch in November, only the Google Chromecast Ultra will be compatible with Stadia, and you will also need a Stadia Controller and access to Stadia to play with Chromecast. Stay tuned for future announcements regarding additional device compatibility.
So only the Ultra is compatible.
Right. Eventually, of course, Stadia will run on everything, that’s the whole point. But they’re restricting it in the early launch.
$130 buy in for the Chromecast Ultra, the controller, and 3 months of Stadia Pro. Pro gives you 4k resolution and Destiny 2. Other games are supposed to come out for free, but it’s just Destiny 2 so far and the games that you can buy outright for the service. $10/month to continue with Stadia Pro to keep playing Destiny 2 and hope for more free games.
^this
Seems as good a place as any to post this:
Valve is wealthy, but you need to be MS or Amazon or Google-sized to play in the Cloud Gaming realm. Hell, Sony needed to partner with MS because they’re not big enough to do it themselves.
Maybe they could partner with Epic.
Isn’t this their system that lets you play your own games from your own PC over the internet?
While that is something Steam has in the works I doubt they would call that particular product “cloud gaming” since you aren’t using cloud infrastructure for it, you are using your own PC and home network for that. I’d expect a “cloud gaming” branded service to utilize professional data centers which should give lower latency and better upload than home networks for a lot of people.