Google announced a major event is coming later this week, as the company will reveal the Stadia price and launch info. Google Stadia has been a major influence on the gaming industry since its announcement in March earlier this year, but precious little is known about when the platform will be widely available and how much it will cost early adopters looking to use it.
What we do know about Google Stadia is exciting, however. Google's streaming platform technology will allow users to access Stadia from virtually any smart device with a Chrome connection, and will have a games library that is supported by many publishers, with at least Ubisoft counted among the major ones that consumers are aware of thus far. The technology seems set to drastically alter the way video game fans access and play their favorite titles, although the extent to which Stadia's library will cover new releases—and how quickly those releases will become available in the future—is still an unknown. Savvy analysts are also questioning what the price point for the service will look like, since anything too expensive will likely end up competing in the same price range as consoles, which have the added benefit of consumers owning physical copies of games.
Most of the debate surrounding whether or not Google Stadia can actually impact the gaming industry will likely be settled later this week, according to Google's announcement. The company will be answering the two biggest questions everyone has about the platform on June 6 at 12pm ET. The announcement will be part of the first ever Stadia Connect, and will include game announcements alongside the reveal of the two biggest details about the platform.
The decision to host Stadia Connect under a week before E3 2019 is also an interesting one. In doing so, Google gets out ahead of many of the biggest announcements for the industry's next year, generating hype and attention just before other companies will be able to offer more competition for viewership and coverage. While many might have expected a Google Stadia presence at E3 2019 in some fashion, that doesn't appear likely now that the company has so effectively pulled out the rug from under the biggest annual gaming conference in the industry.
The future of consoles might not be decided solely by Google Stadia—Microsoft and Sony's partnership, Nintendo's mobile device dominance, and the PS5's impressive tech specs all strongly suggest it will be more competitive than Google simply showing up and taking over. However, Stadia will inevitably be a major factor in the future direction of gaming, with its streaming platform looking extremely appealing to those without a horse in the console race if it manages to generate enough profit. All eyes will be on Google during Stadia Connect later this week, and we might finally get a glimpse of the future a little bit earlier than many of us expected.
Source: Google Stadia/Twitter