Written by When Google first announced Stadia, I was stunned, excited, pumped and also, I had mixed feelings. I looked everywhere online to get as much information as I could. In my mind, I already pictured on going back to console; gaming on a Stadia console. When Google had there press conference to go over what Stadia was going to offer, my eyeballs were glued to the screen; my headphone nice and snugged on my ears. When they mentioned that Stadia was going to be an online streaming service, I realized that this wasn’t going to go anywhere, especially with an added subscription model.
What Goggle didn’t understand was, they had zero reputation in the gaming world. I felt the same way when Microsoft first introduced the Xbox in a playground where it was Sony’s PlayStation and Nintendo. Goggle mistake was not focusing on creating just a gaming console that just played games with multiplayer capabilities and no online subscription model. They got way ahead of themselves with Steaming online games, charging an online subscription when no one knew what Stadia was capable off. It was the wrong move at the wrong time.
Honestly, I think that Stadia can still be a thing, if done right, not some sort of project that went wrong and left in a pile of forgotten broken dreams. Stadia can be rebuilt but with a different perspective, to focus just on a gaming console that offers gamers a gaming platform with multiplayer capabilities and no online subscription model. Forget all these entertainment features for now, just a gaming console. Keep it simple. Aslo, make it user friendly for developers to create games for the Stadia platform. Focus on simply making a gaming console, forget everything else.
If the above is implemented, a nice case design an affordable price point, and then sell the idea to the masses. If successful, then you can get feedback form developers and gamers alike, add continual updates, learn from mistakes and start working on Stadia 2 with newly added features and improvements over the first Stadia. Lastly, keep backwards compatibility in mind. So when future Stadia consoles are released, gamers can continue playing there older games. If all proves successful, Stadia could grow and become competition for Microsoft Xbox and Sony PlayStation. Then Google Statia can add some steaming options similar to Xbox Game Pass.
I’m coming at it from the point of view as a gamer. Nobody is looking for an Xbox or PlayStation clone. Stadia’s best bet was and still and can be, to produce and powerful gaming console, to create it’s on identity as a gaming platform with original ideas. Yet, simple enough for developers to test and build games on and simple enough for anyone to pick up, and play. Games can come in both physical and digital formats. Stadia’s online store should be a no hassle experience with a clean look, easy to understand menus, to buy games with a fair return policy; and newly added games growing its library one step at a time along with crossplay and cross platform capabilities, Everything in life has a starting point. This, in my opinion, could still be a good starting point for Stadia to make a comeback or even start fresh with Stadia 2, why not?
