It’s hard to know, for sure, what the future will hold for streaming in the gaming industry. It could become the new standard, as most major companies are pushing for it, but there’s a lot of challenges that no one seems to have a lot of answers for still- at least not good ones. It also seems like the flag bearer for that future, Google, is not going about it as some expected. After some confusion, during an AMA, the company made it clear what type of service Stadia was aiming to be.
In the Reddit event, Andrey Doronichev, Director of Product for Stadia, clarified that Stadia Pro, the subscription part of the service, was not aiming to be the Netflix of gaming. It is more akin to Xbox Live and PlayStation Plus, as it will basically add additional perks, in this case access to a certain list of free games (whether this list will be rotating isn’t clear, but most likely will be, much like it is for Xbox Live or PS Plus).
Unfortunately, it looks like a Netflix-style streaming service is exactly what a lot of people are wanting, but who knows how the public will take to it once it’s actually out. We can only wait and see. You can see the aforementioned details in Doronichev’s reply on Reddit through here, along with a few other nuggets about the service (and hot dogs).
