Google shows off Stadia streaming games
Whether or not you believe in Stadia, its upcoming video game streaming platform, you will know a lot about it when it finally arrives. Today Google hosted its third Stadia event in six months, detailing more games coming to the service in the ambiguous ‘release window,’ exclusive and otherwise.
We now know that window stretches to at least April 2020, as Google led off with CD Projekt’s Cyberpunk 2077 – one of 2020’s most anticipated – and probably technicaly demanding – games.
The likelihood of the platform proving itself reliable looms large over any Stadia presentation at this point. Most of the 35-minute showcase seemed like an attempt for Google to counter skeptics unsure that GRID, Samurai Shodown and Mortal Kombat 11 will be playable.
It’s hard to say without testing Stadia on a real home network, but Google putting them front-and-center at an event speaks to a certain level of confidence.
In other reveals, Bungie showed off more of its upcoming Destiny 2 expansion Shadowkeep, which is due to arrive in early October. Darksiders: Genisys was in there, as well as the Destroy All Humans remake, so it looks like THQ is all-in on Stadia. Elder Scrolls Online is coming, as is Borderlands 3. We even got a glimpse of Frisbee-combat game Windjammers 2.
There was, however, only one exclusive. Orcs Must Die 3, next in the tower-defense/action hybrid series, will be locked to Google Stadia – for good, it sounds like. Orcs Must Die 3 will feature 500-orc mobs in certain modes. Those are some huge crowds, and would probably put the game out of reach of even mid-tier PCs, making it a good Stadia candidate.
Nothing that seemed like a huge coup and definitely nothing on par with Stadia’s E3 presentation and its Baldur’s Gate III reveal.
Given the temperature of the room, it might be better for Google to lie low until the first Founders Editions go out in November and we see some early reviews. At least then Google’s at the mercy of facts, not Twitter speculation.
IDG News Service
Subscribers 0
Fans 0
Followers 0
Followers