What were they thinking..

[GrumpyGamer]

I just recently got my stadia and purchased my first game so far it's been a pretty pleasant experience I like the stadia I like the controller everything works very well and if it wasn't for one really glaring oversight by someone at Google I would continue to use stadia and purchase all my games from stadia and play it every day but whoever thought that buying a game for $60 and then having to pay $10 a month to be able to play it at 4k should be fired.. there's no quicker way to lose a customer.. I mean come on games are expensive enough $60 and then a monthly fee on top of the 60.. 4K it's the standard for pretty much everything now why would anybody choose stadia over a console? I'm sure there are millions of us out here that have no interest in the silly little pro games that are included for the $10 monthly fee we just want to be able to play the games that we buy in full resolution. Paying $10 a month for 4K on top of $100 for the stadium and $60 for the game somebody should do the math because it wouldn't take very long to equal the price of buying a console and never having to pay a monthly fee to play in 4K again...

[TheWelshIdiot]

@GrumpyGamer 

While I see your point, you don't 'need' to spend $100 on the console, Stadia will work with the kit you have.

And when looking at the consoles, they cost $449 and have a monthly fee iaround $10 f you want to save to the cloud or play your $70 game with your friends.

Stadia is a service, as is PS plus, or Gamepass.   You as a consumer choose what value is to you.  I happen to think its remarkable value to pay for crazy fast load times, gaming across a multitude of platforms, 0 download patches (Did anyone else see the issues Allanah Pearce had with yesterday's Cyberpunk stream) and anywhere between 3 to 6 games a month in my library.  

Personally I'm not seeing the value in a $449 box that overheats, requires constant storage juggling, still makes me pay monthly to play friends and requires patches when I do get the chance to play.  But each to their own.

[GrumpyGamer]

PlayStation plus Xbox live and game pass are optional add-on  services if stadia wanted to charge for online play like PlayStation plus and Xbox live I would have no problem with that... If they wanted to be like gamepass where you pay your fee and get a good selection of games to choose from that wouldn't be a problem either because it's optional..but paying for your game and then getting charged for resolution is just plain wrong because resolution isn't optional in a world where almost every tv purchased in the last 5 years is a 4k tv . Optional services are just fine but down-grading the core experience of a game that is paid for at full price if the user does not want to pay even more is a perfect example of the never ending corporate greed that is destroying the gaming industry.

[TheWelshIdiot]

@GrumpyGamer 

Stadia Pro is an optional service too.  Exactly the same as PS Plus and Game Pass.  You do not have to pay for it. 

You are arguing the semantics of  the function of the service provides a lack of value.

PS plus and Game Pass withhold functionality of a game you have paid for, you cannot play multiplayer without paying Microsoft or Sony for the privilege of doing so.  This is after you have paid them a large amount of money to buy a system, and then paying them for a game to play on it.  After that, they will say 'See this second icon on the menu, the one just below single player, nope'.

Stadia allows you to optionally improve parts of your experience at cost.   They are not withholding paid content to you behind a paywall.

All three services then provide recompense through the gifting of games you can play while subscribed to the service, that deactivate if you stop.

I know which I think is a better deal for gamers, and I choose to pay that.  I've spent 25 years buying Sony systems and have been a gamer for a lot longer.  You can bash Stadia for a lot of things (though they are dwindling on an almost daily basis).  Value proposition, however, is not one of them  At all.

[GrumpyGamer]

It makes about as much sense as going out and buying a bunch of blu-rays and then coming home to watch a movie and having to pay the studio that made it $10 a month to actually get your 4K on your Blu-ray you can defend corporate greed all you want is still Not worth it Even buying a single game on stadia is a giant risk... Buying a library of games on stadia is an investment that is extremely dangerous for the consumer.Especially considering the internet service providers figure out people want to use services likeand just like all the other companies that are super greedy your ISP wants to get its hand in the pocket also in every way possible so they do greedy greedy things like Comcast just did and data capped 14 more states... So imagine you just bought 25 or 30 games this year on stadia and tomorrow you wake up with the data cap and you can't use your stadia anymore...so the scenario is take a huge risk buying your games from us then pay a monthly fee to get full resolution on a game that you pay the same price as everyone else on console paid for and they get their 4k.. these greedy companies need to stop everywhere you look somebody is figured out a way to stick their hand in your pocket and take your money a monthly fee for this and a monthly fee for that and a monthly fee for oxygen before long...I don't know if you remember it or not but there was a time when companies prided themselves on providing a great service for a fair reasonable price... But now it's find a way to provide the cheapest possible service for the highest possible price and add as many fees on top of it as we can get away with greedy greedy greedy

[TheWelshIdiot]

So now its not Stadia or Google, Now it's your ISP you have an issue with?   

And to use your analogy, PSN (I'll happily share my defunct profile if you don't think I've been a member since day dot) is the equivalent of buying Season 1 of Game of Thrones on Blu Ray.  You will just be getting into the story by episode 5 when it cuts out and tells you to pay to get access to the rest of the content you've already paid for.   

You hink that's a better service than being able to watch the entire season in 720p?  I think that's a ludicrous statement .

[GrumpyGamer]

It's quite obvious we see the situation from two different perspectives and there's no sense in arguing about something as silly as internet and games so we should just agree to disagree. Personally I'm tired of everybody having their hand out for a monthly fee. If you don't mind paying fees then that's fine.. I hope you continue to enjoy your stadia experience and in time I hope the service reaches a point where I can enjoy it as well.. if  they ever actually deliver 4k 60fps like promised then perhaps the monthly fee won't bother me ..

[steelix]

exactly right, even on pro i dont get 4k It only gives me 1080p on my 4k high def gaming monitor.  its a big slap in the face to have bought a game and subscribed to pro and only get max 1080p; because this isnt working properly.

[steelix]

Problem with stadia is its very jerky and has connection problems even on fast fibre,.  Games on consoles are preloaded and avoid these lag, latency and render problems in the game.  These consoles you pay 8.99 a month and have access to a multitude of games and the games are cheaper and you can share with friends.

Stadia doesnt have those things, and you have to wait in a queue of 377 people to actually speak to someone when theres something wrong with purchase. 

[steelix]

Im extremely annoyed at stadia - on pro it doesnt give me 4k resolution

Cyberpunk doesnt work 

I get post flooding mesage when I try to post on here - even 5 mins between messages it says more than 1 message in 3.6 seconds.

Stadia is the cruelest way to abuse gamers.

[FoxMindedGuy]

First of all:

• Stadia works on any device. I am playing Borderlands 3 without a stutter on my fanless Chromebook that is from the stone ages. I can pick up where I left off certain games on the fly on my phone while waiting for say my coffee.
• This means you need not to buy any hardware for it. So your price can go down to $0 and use what you have existing - if it can run chrome browser.
• You can also hook up a controller to your Android or IOS (it need not be Stadia Controller - you may need one with Bluetooth detection or a USB-C or Firewire plug-in or converter). So controller cost is $0.
• It can also be played on the virtual controller on phones (without needing to spend money on controllers even).
• Now, if you are like me and are ok to play games in 1080p - especially because cloud-gaming eats up internet (just like netflix streaming would) and there are caps of 1.2 TB with most internet providers - you can opt out of $10 each month unless you like goodies like Hitman and countless other games for free.
• Lastly, even if you pay $10 each month for 4K resolution and haven't bought their console - you will lose the same money if you bought PS5 or XBOX in 3.3 to 5 years ($400 - $600 for PS5 or XBOX). And this is without considering that PS5 is not giving you all the goodies like free game each month (some are AAA games with $60 price point).

Happy gaming!

[Jab801]

How would you expect this to work?  Google is going to maintain hardware that you can use for free?  I’m sure they get a cut of the software sale but, after the costs of building, maintaining, and marketing the Stadia product, I can’t see how they wouldn’t operate at a loss without relying on a subscription model.  I’m willing to bet that, even with the monthly fee to get 4K, they probably still won’t be profitable for some time.  As it stands, you can buy the game for price similar to other platforms and play essentially without having to shell out any money for hardware.

Let’s do the math for Stadia vs the last gen consoles.  Let’s assume that you already have a TV and enough internet bandwidth and data.  You’d need the TV for a console.  The only stretch is that you could get away with crappier internet with a console.

Stadia cost for 5 years:

-Stadia Premium Package + tax (let’s say 6%): $104.94

-Pro Subscription @$10/month * 60 months: $600

Total 5 year cost: $704.94

PS4 cost for 5 years:

-Console price at 2013 NA release + tax: $422.94

-PS4 Pro upgrade at 2016 release (because a hell of a lot of people do upgrade when the new version comes out) + tax: $422.94

Total 5 year cost: $845.88

Verdict:

-Assuming roughly even controller replacement, Stadia would have save you $140.94 over the course of those 5 years.

-If you do happen to keep the same console over 5 years, you pay an extra $282 over the course of that time.  However, if you take advantage of deals like the Cyberpunk/Stadia Premium, already have the hardware you want to play on, take advantage of the free games, etc... you could come nearly even or possibly ahead (especially if you factor Stadia hardware continuing to be upgraded while your console ages).

At absolute worst, Stadia is a modest premium over console ownership.  For many, it would represent a savings.