PlayStation Now is getting its first proper competitor in the form of Google Stadia next week, but the service’s launch lineup leaves a lot to be desired. While we’d anticipated an enormous selection of software would be available day one with the initiative, the search engine giant has instead confirmed that there’ll be just 12 titles at first.
To be fair, the releases are all of a high quality, but all except one can already be played elsewhere. RIME developer Tequila Works’ Gylt is the solitary exclusive, but even this has been mooted for release on the PlayStation. Here’s the launch lineup in full:
- Assassin's Creed Odyssey
- Destiny 2: The Collection
- Gylt
- Just Dance 2020
- Kine
- Mortal Kombat 11
- Red Dead Redemption 2
- Rise of the Tomb Raider
- Samurai Shodown
- Shadow of the Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition
- Thumper
- Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition
To be fair, Google has said that 14 more titles will be added by the end of the year, with the likes of Borderlands 3 and Final Fantasy XV among the ranks. Still, it’s worth remembering that Stadia Pro subscribers will only have access to Destiny 2: The Collection for free – all other titles must be purchased outright.
It doesn’t really compare to PS Now’s full list of games yet, does it?
[source gamesindustry.biz]
Comments 50
It's a dreadful lineup at launch and even the other 14 are fairly pitiful to anyone who's been gaming these last few years. Don't forget you'll actually have to buy them as well and probably for much more than you'll find then for the PS4 these days.
I genuinely can't think of any reason why someone would buy this for £120, then buy the game for full price and then pay them nearly a tenner a month to play your games that you have bought
Wow! What is even the point of this?
So....why should a person like myself invest in stadia? The games I want to play, I already bought and I would have to buy them again...
These companies including Microsoft do a terrible job at marketing their systems to a gamer like myself who is completely satisfied with ps4, but don't n mind buying another system. How exactly am I benefiting from adding this to my household? I'm not of the mindset that a gamer blindly buys everything or they are a blind fanboy.
I remember years ago when Onlive launched. At the time I was totally hyped for the service as I was a broke collage kid and couldn't afford a console or a descent gaming PC. The first and only game I bought form the service was Deus Ex: Human Revolution. That game was practically unplayable due to input lag. To this day I still have a bad taste in my mouth when it comes to cloud gaming due to this.
I'm sure that Cloud gaming has been greatly improved since the introduction of Onlive but I'd much rather not be required to have and depend on having a stable connection to play games. I live and work in the rural North Texas area just North of Dallas and we have one internet provider. There service is hit or miss on a weekly bases at best.
I understand and completely get the appeal for wanting to playing AAA games at max specs but not having the money to afford a gaming console or gaming pc because I have been there. But at least for the time being and foreseeable future I don't see the current infrastructure that's set up now being able to deliver a reliable trouble free solution.
I'll just stick to my PS4 Pro and desktop gaming PC. I can play both off line and Steam's offline mode is great for someone like myself and I take full advantage of it due to were I live.
Stadia cant offer me that in anyway especially with this lineup games.
@carlos82 Yeah, it's a very poor proposition at launch. They've got a long way to go.
I actually like that lineup. It's quality over quantity at launch and it makes sense to stagger the releases for the rest of this year rather than dump them all at once.
The most interesting thing yet to find out is how much they're gonna price these games at.
Had a go on PS Now at the weekend (free trial) - played some Sonic Adventure 2 which was flawless and Dead Space 3 which seemed a little bit fuzzy. But then I had just come from Death Stranding which is pin sharp, so that’s at least partly down to it just being a PS3 game. Ran great, though.
DoA. What on Earth are they thinking. Heres 12 games everyone has already played. Hopefully this nonsense disappears.
@roe the games themselves are fine for the most part but wouldn't anyone who has an interest in gaming have likely already played these titles and the next 14? Surely they should have been looking to get this years COD and Star Wars games at the very least
@carlos82. Maybe this is proof the industry doesnt actually want this...or doesnt want it spearheaded by google. I cant understand why there wouldnt be more at launch otherwise
Hahahahahaha
I can't wait for the gamut of Thumper and Samurai Showdown reviews for Stadia.
I still have mine preordered (mainly for the Chromecast which I need anyways) but this is a pretty poor lineup IMO. Still looking forward to trying out the final product though, no real loss in giving it a shot!
Sony will dominate google in the gaming space the same way they been dominating Microsoft.
PS Now is totally different service. Stadia offers gaming on the go and on multiple devices also no need for an expensive console and no downloads. It offers 60 fps which PS4 has constantly struggled with. PS4 did not launch with many more games than what Stadia will.
Not enough being fair: 4/10
@Cutmastavictory maybe you're not their target audience then?
Which begs the question: who is their target audience?
Speaking of PS Now, I decided to give the 7 day trial a try and lo and behold my internet can actually stream games.
The resolution may be a little fuzzy, but it kinda blew my mind that I can actually do it.
@hotukdeals
Stadia will not work on cellular networks at launch - so not quite 'on the go'. I can't see many available hotspots offering enough bandwidth to support it well.
Also, depending on nat type, networks like EE probably won't support it at all.
PS4 launched with new/cross gen entries in popular franchises and, importantly, new exclusives.
To be fair, playing RDR2 without a 100GB download sounds pretty great to me. Once it gets ironed out a bit and the dust settles, I’ll check it out.
@nessisonett
As with streaming on PSNow,. third person action/adventure stuff will probably fare quite well from the off. They're games that are generally a lot more forgiving of any latency issues.
Launching with Thumper and Samurai Showdown is pretty bold!
I did mention the line-up in the Chit-Chat thread yesterday
It could've been worse... Could've been much better too.
MK 11 or Samurai Shodown will be interesting to play on it as there no doubt will be input lag.
Don't know anything about Shodown but MK11 despite only having 3 button combos is still gonna be subject to lag, especially if you're not an amatuer like me!
Plus a quarter of the lineup is just Tomb Raider
Oh and one of the 14 supposed games coming is Farming Simulator 2019!
@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy
MK players are the countiest frame-counters there are! I know many of them! Samurai Showdown potentially may draw a more casual crowd - but I think MK and Thumper will be the telling ones for sure.
@Mince
So I have herd. I wish my connection was reliable enough to support streaming. But living out in the country in the rule areas it's hit or miss almost on a weekly basis. Some times it's out two to three days without a connection.
Where are we at on the Streaming Change Curve? I'd say we're moving through denial and focusing on anger, which isn't so bad. We're at depression with the micro transactions, which is even better.
I'm really proud of you all for doing so well!
@get2sammyb actually speaking of PS Now I'm currently on the free trial and noticed it says I own a few of the games, presumably because I bought them on PS3, do I have to be subscribed to actually play them?
@nessisonett - You might not download 100GB to play RDR2 but you will be streaming way more than that over the time it takes to finish the game. Probably into terabytes territory, especially at 4K 60fps. I dread to think how much bandwidth that would chew through!
Never stop being Push Square's & NintyLife's cheeky chappy @kyleforrester87
...Though now I can't unsee that Resident Evil 6 logo thanks to that comment you made on NL... 😂
Ha ha I wouldn't quite know I'm not great at them at all, counting frames and stuff is beyond me
I'm one of those weirdos who likes fighting games for the story @KALofKRYPTON ... At least before Netherrealm's woeful attempts in the newer ones!
Forgot only Destiny 2 was free (...Though that's partially free to play now anyway)
Is the pricing going to be cheaper for these games? Cus I really don't see many benefits at all otherwise!
So what other exclusives are lined up for the Stadia? I'm assuming itl have a few to try and convince people to buy it coz right now it ain't converting me. I mean the Tomb Raiders were good but not system sellers imo, if odyssey was a goty edition I could see the appeal to newcomers, Thumper is best played in Vr, and the others have a big install base on other platforms.
Most of those games you can get dead cheap used
It's like if netflix sells their streaming movie one by one rather than all you can eat subscription like now. I don't know what google is smoking when they make this decission 😕
The reason I subs to streaming service like netflix is because it's cheap and have a good value rather than just because I like streaming things.
Right now Stadia's short-term goal is just to get it out there for a small (relatively) number of people and have it working well. This launch means very little in the grand scheme.
The real test comes at the end of next year where they'll be planning to directly compete with PlayStation and Xbox when the new consoles come out. The choice for people will be spend £400+ on a new console and the latest COD/FIFA, or pay £0 to £10 a month and just buy the game and stream via Stadia.
Xbox seem to be covering themselves with their own streaming plans & Game Pass, and obviously PlayStation is still looking strong with loads of top quality exclusives and a proven history in the home console space.
It's a really fascinating time for the industry imo.
I own seven of these titles and many of them are heavily discounted on other digital services so they would have to be very cheap on Stadia for it to make sense to most gamers.
This is having a very muted launch compared to what I would expect. I feel this is a test of the infrastructure before they go all in on the next release they have early next year.
There’s some great titles in that lineup but nothing I’ve not already played in the last year or so. You’d think with it being a streaming service they’d be a lot of games available from launch.
I honestly can’t see this being a success but if it had a monthly/annual subscription for the games like GamePass and PS Now and kept adding games, eventually building a library into the hundreds, then I’d even think of picking it up in a year or so but sod having to buy the games outright when I’ve got GamePass and a rental service I’m currently using for new releases.
@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy I really quite enjoyed the stories of MK9 and X. and the Injustice stuff.
@Shigurui Very true, this is why I have unlimited bandwidth with my ISP. Streaming’s only gonna get bigger in all media so bandwidth caps will hopefully become extinct in the next few years.
@OMG_Waffles i bet it hasnt. Guess why no free trial at launch of system or preview tests. Never mind goolgles track record in ditching stuff
RDR2 and AC Odyssey should last you at least 2 years.
Personally, I'm not interested in streaming, either with PS Now or Stadia. But that line-up wouldn't tempt me anyway.
@wiiware Agreed. A better prospect for Stadia at this stage may be to go more the Amazon Prime route... on a rotating basis, they have some things available to stream included with the subscription price, with others only available to buy outright.
2 years it will be dead maybe 1 depending on how many try it for a month or 2 the first year. wait until internet providers start seeing Terabytes of data being used for some game that was only 50 GB to download! it is flawed & a power-hungry way of gaming IMO.
Im in no way interested in this but it'll be fun watching the reviews next week.
Streaming games surely will become the next step in gaming but not yet and not at full price, even digital it's not worth full price I only buy digital when it's super cheap no way in hell I would Pay for Cloud games where I don't control and own anything if it was like Netflix then I can see things working otherwise it's gonna die
Wow that is uninspiring. I mean the tomb raider games are good but seeing three of the twelve are those it does take away from the variety a little bit...
Can’t see them winning me over at this rate.
@Paranoimia Stadia should just copy gamepass or psnow, all you can play games at fixed price permonth and cheaper price peryear, without the need of a console or expensive pc. Now I'm sure as heck sony and microsoft breath a sigh of relief after seeing stadia strategy of streaming only + paying $60 for buying games.
I am surprised not to see any Fortnite or Apex on there, should do all you can to get them on.
Perhaps they're difficult to stream because of their design?
Straight garbage, never streaming my games.
Google Stadia will be propped up by 99% of youtube and twitch gamers who will buy the service just to show how good/how rubbish the service is to their subscribers.
Daym. I actually preordered one of these because I am a sucker for new machines. My track record is awful (Ouya? Anyone) so its the kiss of death.
I may cancel the order... I already have Destiny 2
EDIT: I've just cancelled. No way I'm paying £120 for this turkey
Stadia is totally dead on arrival. I see no scenario where this comes out on top.
I also keep forgetting you have to purchase these games on a streaming service. I'm so glad I didn't become an early adopter.
@Anguspuss
It speaks volumes it you ask me. The idea of streaming anything you want to play at anytime is a nice thought. But at least for me our local infrastructure is not set up to hand it.
Show Comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...