Google is an unstoppable force, and rumor has it they're looking to reach out and snatch up a piece of the gaming pie. Will they be able to make a successful transition from tech to video games as Microsoft did, or will they crash and burn (we're lookin' at you Nokia N-Gage).
A new report by Android Police says Google is working on bringing Steam to Chromebooks.
There is nothing wrong with that. Gamers should be able to play on as many devices as possible, and even the smallest devices are getting good at playing complex games through streaming.
Steam is going to have to change otherwise it will become irrelevant in a few years. Vendors that don't allow me to play on many devices is going to be a major "must have" for me going forward.
Google Stadia, PSNow, and XB Console/xCloud Streaming will all allow that and I will favor platforms that give me the ability to reduce my costs and increase the amount of places where I can just pickup and play.
This isn't about streaming. Google wants a Steam client on Chromebook for playing games locally. That's fine, but they are going to have to come through with more capable laptops as they article suggests they will. The current offering is just pathetic unless you just want to browse the web and read email.
As a person who is "out and about" a lot I like to have streaming for when I am not at my home. I travel a lot in hotels, my country property, and in the city. Streaming to me is just an add-on to my gaming experience and allows me to play in more places without lugging my "portable" console setup.
I am also looking this next gen to save some money by not buying some consoles and reducing the ones I do buy.
the key here is cloud gaming for steam. The core being on pc but a scondary option to play in the cloud. Geforce now is not great because its so complicated because its third party and only some games make it on it. Rumor did come up that steam is working on a cloud thing
They use a custom OS, they aren't Windows laptops. Steam would need to support Chrome OS.
Chrome OS would have to support the games as well. AFAIK, Chrome OS doesn't use any standard gaming API that's used for most PC games like DX or Vulcan. If the chromebooks become powerful enough to support gaming, that'd be a good thing for them to implement into the system, because the high level API's they use for Google devices now is not good for higher end gaming. Some game engines can overcome this, but chrome books tend to use high level OS layers for applications.
They would have to revamp a lot of the core features of the Chromebook to make them by useful for gaming. Trading the current low end Pentium and Celeron cpus for Amd Zen 2 Apus would be a good start, but they would also have to finally ditch the low end DDR3 and 32/64 GB eMMC storage that most of Chromebook are still produced with.
Or they could just port Steam Link and call it a day.
That would kind of making the chrome book, pointless if the specs would have to get bumped to support steam.
Chrome books are suppose to be cheap laptops.
And they have stadia
🙄
Most games on steam have very low system requirements. Most people ignore these games, but they are there.
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Google has now announced the Google Stadia Release date. Google Stadia Founder's Editions and Google Stadia Premiere Editions will both begin shipping "in the same order that pre-orders were received." Shortly after Stadia packages begin shipping, those who pre-ordered will receive a code to activate their Stadia account and Stadia Pro.
Selling out founders edition everywhere is saying how bad it's going to fail .... hmmmmm
I agree that sometimes this IS the case, but what makes you so sure this is the same?
Google Stadia fundamentally misunderstands its target audience. Casual users aren't willing to adopt this new business model.
It's hard to put a positive spin on something that isn't shaping up to be very good. Some articles try, but they tend to be more in the context of pushing the Stadia as leading us into the future rather than focusing on why it's the future or why we want a streaming-only device and completely ignoring the potential drawbacks to getting one of these things.
No upfront hardware costs and you get to play the newest next gen game, that's nice for casuals who don't want to fork out $600 with games.
@traumadisaster But as far as I know this PoS will only be able to play PS4/XB1 type games. That's not next-gen, and it will get left behind when the new systems release. I believe there is still a hardware cost too, albeit a lower one. I would think that casuals would rather just stick to their phones than fork over even that much and add an additional subscription to their monthly bills. So, I have no idea who the intended audience is for this thing.
I can see a revision in proving happening at some stage you can't expect people to pay 10 a month to play games they already brought
they'll fail I'm sure they will
Against Xbox maybe, Playstation, No
VR was a failed attempt and I say Google will fail in this endeavor as well
Does anybody else stand a chance at entering today’s console market
with market contenders that are non contenders i would say go for it and try. it has never been that easy to kick out the cuckoo‘s eggs out of the nest. the only thing needed is a masterplan and a sense of quality. and here is where i‘m doubting that google is for real. they are not used to fight.