Question 3: Does It Have Any Noteworthy Exclusives?
There were a ton of cool features of Stadia that Google showed off during its conference. State Share allows content creators to share a link and have other players continue from that very moment, perhaps to try and beat a high score or burning lap.
In another example, Jade Redmond showed off how it was easy for developers to switch up the art style of their game in real-time thanks to Style Transfer machine learning.
Another showed multiple viewpoints of the same game environment and how players could dive in quickly to help their friend before hopping out.
They also showed how Google Assistant could be used to pull up a video walkthrough from YouTube, skip to the exact place you’re at within the game, and help you advance with pretty much no effort whatsoever.
This was all very impressive, but unless Google Stadia can nab itself some major exclusive titles, there’s little impetus to jump from say the Xbox or PlayStation ecosystems over to this right now. For years, who has the “best exclusives” has long been a point of contention among fans of the big three.
Where Sony has strived this generation to bring plenty of blockbuster titles to the PS4 each year, Microsoft has stumbled in that regard tis generation, with many blaming the Xbox One’s less impressive sales performance (in comparison to the PS4, at least) on a lack of exclusive software.
Aside from a few tech-demo-looking titles and Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey & Tomb Raider, we don’t know what games will be available on Google Stadia. Let alone if it will have any major exclusive titles to begin with.
Considering the sheer scale, scope, and power on offer with Google Stadia, I’m sure the platform will entice some developers to try things they never dreamed possible on conventional video game platforms. Whether or not they generate enough hype to make Stadia a serious contender, though, remains to be seen.
