Be honest, when was the last time you thought about Google Stadia? For us it was discovering the forgotten box of our Founder's Edition, gathering dust in the back of a wardrobe, the midnight blue remote sitting impeccably on its cardboard base. While many of us had neglected Google's ill-fated game streaming service, and for a while, it seemed like Google was pulling the plug as well when it ditched its lineup of first-party games earlier this year, it seems the giant tech has one. latest trick up your sleeve. RoadToVr recently discovered job postings that show Google is hiring true virtual specialists to work on its Stadia team. We don't yet know exactly what the final product will look like, but this move to VR could be just what Stadia needs to get back into the spotlight.
Where everything went wrong
If you're not familiar with the service (and you may well be), Google Stadia is like Amazon Prime Video but for console gaming. You can buy digital games and even sign up for a service to get them for free, but they don't work on your hardware. Instead, Google's servers handle pretty much all the heavy lifting, and all you need is a supervisor, a stable internet connection, and a compatible smartphone, laptop, or Google Chromecast to play. Your input from a controller or touch screen essentially directs a server-side computer somewhere in the digital clouds. The big advantage of this system is that you don't need a new gaming computer with PS5 or RTX XNUMX to get a great gaming experience, you just need an internet connection. However, while Google Stadia's early trailers promised a lot, the service didn't deliver many of its great features at launch (and some took the better part of a year to finally arrive). Early adopters felt they had been burned by false hope, and the normally negative reviews are unlikely to spur new players. We're not sure how well (or poorly) Stadia has sold, but the reports have given us an idea, and it's not looking good. Rival streaming service Amazon Luna doesn't seem to have wowed audiences either, though Xbox may shake things up with its Xbox Cloud Gaming service also tied to the popular Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription. Could Google's shift to virtual reality let Google Stadia thrive better than ever?
Like a phoenix from its ashes
The Oculus Quest 6's staggering sales numbers (including the fact that it outsells all other Oculus VR headsets combined by about 3 months on sale) shows that gamers want cheaper wireless VR experiences. Oculus's Quest XNUMX offers just that, but while we enjoyed our time with the device, you may find that its hardware underperforms at times. Unfortunately, it is quite difficult to balance cost with technological performance; something always and at all times must be compromised. For the Oculus Quest XNUMX, its processing power took a hit, but it costs less than most other VR headsets and doesn't need to be connected to a $XNUMX-plus computer to work. With the help of Stadia, those commitments could disappear. By letting Google's servers do all the rather difficult processing work, the VR headset should only handle the transmission of the final image and the return of the player's movements. This would not only be beneficial for Facebook's Oculus Quest headset, but could also be reminiscent of Google Cardboard or Daydream, as even underpowered smartphones could ultimately offer decent VR performance. Of course, there are obvious drawbacks that need to be addressed, as even the smallest motion lags can lead to severe motion sickness and loss of immersion when you experience it. But the potential of truly virtual Google Stadia has us excited to play the service again (and that's coming from people who left their Stadia controller before our XNUMX-month free trial expired). We just hope we don't feel exhausted by our excitement again. The best deals right now on the Google Stadia controller