‘We’re probably staring at the future of computing.’
We’ve all heard about Stadia by now. Google’s new gaming console is aiming to allow users to play AAA games in 4K at 60fp, with game loading times of three seconds. All with just a controller, a screen and an internet connection.
Google says it can make this work by moving all the heavy processing away from the device to a purpose-built data centre – sort of mirroring how traditional sports take place, in big purpose-built stadiums. Hence the name.
In theory, it’s a solid idea. The set-up is similar to how large cloud computing companies or cryptocurrency miners operate. Building industrial-scale data processing centres in locations where energy is dirt cheap is a profitable way to process large volumes of data.
Stadia users need fast processing – on-screen results within 0.005 seconds. This means that for gaming to be a level playing field, there need to be data centres close enough to every Stadia user on the planet so that the lag is so small as to be imperceptible.
This is also what separates streaming gaming from streaming video. Services like Netflix and Amazon can rely on downloads and buffering to paper over any real-time hiccups. But in gaming, a few milliseconds of lag will often literally cost you your virtual life.
Google claims that because the Stadia controller connects directly to the internet, rather than through a console, it communicates directly with the gaming servers.
But whether this pretty basic workaround will be enough to enable Stadia to stream bespoke lag-free HD gaming streams, to millions of users, remains unproven. And unlikely.
That said, Google does have a head start on implementing the infrastructure it needs to beat latency. But it needs to scale this massively to beat it on a global level.
I suspect that this is a problem that Google will actually have to rely on local ISPs to fix instead.
Which brings us back to an issue that’s been a thing ever since the internet has been a thing – the digital divide. And I don’t just mean from urban to rural. It’s a problem from developed nation to developed nation.
According to stats collected by Ookla, the US clocks an average download rate of 115.14Mbps. New Zealand, by comparison, has an average score of 87.47Mbps. Where I live – in the bush – I’m lucky to get above 20Mbps. And New Zealand is relatively high up on the rankings list (22nd).
This week’s announcement leaves us with more questions than answers. We don’t know how much it will cost, and when it’s going to be released. We don’t know its latency performance. And most of all, we don’t know if it’ll be any good.
The few people who have tested Stadia have mixed views on it. Google has remained so tightlipped that we don’t even know if the service is multiplayer.
Despite all of these questions, there is one thing we do know. Streaming isn’t going away. Not even for gaming. Combine that with the undeniable fact that internet speeds are getting faster, and all of a sudden we’re not just looking at the future of gaming. We’re probably staring at the future of computing in general.
I’m sure that Google – or Microsoft, or Sony, or maybe even Amazon – will one day nail zerolatency gaming via streams. And when they do, they’ll be in prime position to be the next dominant force in computing.
It could lead to a world where consumers are paying a few bucks for a new device that basically consists of an HD screen and a battery. Everything else will be a subscription to lag-free streaming services.
Will Stadia be the first service to get all this right? I really don’t know.