I've been a Stadia subscriber since day one so I thought it might be a good time to chime in on some honest feedback here, especially as i see the very polarized feedback out there in the media and with users.
The idea of Stadia is perfect for me and anyone like me - I'm no longer at an age (or more importantly place in my life) where I can just sit down and play games every afternoon / evening but I do enjoy picking up a controller and having a session when time allows. With my job, I also spend my time split between a couple different locations so pre-stadia I was stuck with only my Switch as a gaming PC, Xbox, or PlayStation are simply too bulky to bring with me wherever I go. - on paper, for people like me, Stadia is a perfect solution.
Quality / performance: I know there was a lot of talk about the 4k not being what was expected but to be honest I've never really had performance issues. I know there are going to be growing pains but I didn't really experience many during play in general. Oddly the worst part for me was actually getting the controllers to pair properly which remains my only technical issue, I still have to reset and re-pair the controllers fairly regularly.
Devices: fixed now but waiting close to a year for Stadia to work on Chromecast with Google TV was beyond annoying. I swapped all of my TVs to those devices and loved it but having to have 2 Chromecast devices to play stadia was a big miss on this launch.
Games: This is the big one. If the library doesn't start getting more quality games there is no way Stadia survives. (I actually have a secret hope that all the news about Netflix starting gaming will actually be Google just partnering to bring Stadia to more people through Netflix to get more users which will help get more developers on the platform) - wishful thinking I know but something has to get fixed here or I don't see how people can stay with Stadia as Xbox ultimate just seems like its becoming more and more what Stadia should be. I need games that can come with me and have longevity - Diablo style ARPGs, even NMS or some more larger RPGs, arcade sports (quick in and out games that can be fun for a long time). we don't need a million games but we need something where I can actually get my money's worth out of the subscription. I do very much like the free monthly games and have found some decent ones but I don't see many that I want to keep playing long (hit or miss, some have been great, don't get me wrong).
I'm hoping it all works out and Stadia doesn't just become another abandoned Google product but it seems like a 50/50 chance at this point, the next year is make or break in my opinion. I've personally paid since day one but its going to be hard to keep justifying if we don't get some quality launches before the end of the year.
Hopefully the recent work stadia has done with developers to make porting games a far easier process will help. Interesting reading your feedback - it’s pretty aligned with my own experiences since day 1 also!
Same here. User since day 1. Too old/ grown up to really play a lot. Most of the time my son plays the games and enjoys to have a lot of games to pick from. My library is huge. But as mentioned there are just a few great titles in there. Some game you start and play for maybe an hour and then never play it again. This is great for new developers to get their games in front of an audience, but for pro users you also have to have some games which we can stick with for a while.
the timing for the stadia product is good. Maybe a bit too early in terms of mass adoption. They could have used COVID / stay at home / chip shortage to make sure more people are on the platform.
not sure why they are not pushing hard on this project. Gaming will be the no.1 time digital time spending activity in 10-20 years…
anyways I like the product. Sometime having issues with the controller and the connection too. But overall a great experience.
please continue
I agree with you, except for the fact that you say there are few quality titles. While it may not be as vast as the PC/Consoles library, all great third party recent games are there. You can spend a lot of time on Assassin’s Creed games, Red Dead Redemption 2, Cyberpunk 2077, Immortals: Fenyx Rising, The Crew 2, FIFA, etc.
I think the Stadia problem has a lot more to do with marketing than the game library or the platform itself.