A large percentage of the hate out there targeted towards Stadia actually comes from misinformation. For example, the classic: “You have to buy the game and pay a monthly subscription.” As I am sure our readers will know, this isn’t true now nor has it ever been the case. You can buy games on Stadia a la carte. The Stadia Pro subscription is completely optional.
I, personally, agree entirely that it would be a terrible idea and business model to make you pay for the game and then charge you to stream it in the clouds.
Enter Microsoft
According to an article on The Verge, in a bid to push their cloud gaming offering forward, Microsoft have announced that they are working on allowing some purchased games to be playable in the cloud for Game Pass Ultimate members. So, it sounds like you buy the game and… then pay to stream them?? Where have we heard this before…? This is the exact thing that caused a lot of people to scoff at Stadia and it wasn’t even true!
(You can read the full article from The Verge here)
Furthermore, this is only for certain games. So, that catalog of games you have built up over the years but don’t have installed because of hardware limitations? Don’t think you’re suddenly going to have easier access to them. Not just yet anyway.
At least with Game Pass you do get discounts on purchasing the games that are on there. So, if you want to play it after it rotates out of Game Pass, you can. But, there isn’t a guarantee that it is going to be one of the Streamable games. Hopefully… though? It would make sense as it is (or was) already there in the Cloud to play. But, licensing is a tricky matter. And, at this stage, who knows.
Are You Being Charged Twice?
Is it not enough that you have paid for the game and more than likely paid hundreds for a console as well? Do Microsoft really need to charge you for the ability to stream that game on the go? For me, I would like to see an option where you can play the games you have purchased without additional payment then pay extra for access to the rotating library of games. Sort of like Stadia’s model…
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to bash Microsoft or Xbox. I’m a subscriber to Game Pass Ultimate and play on Xbox myself! It has some very good pros. However, historically, I have been vocal about how gaming subscriptions are not consumer friendly. Paying to play online games? Come on! Glad to see that gradually going the way of the dinosaurs.
For me, though, Stadia Pro is different. But that’s more for another time.
What I really want to point out is that this appears to be a hypocrisy among gamers stirring things up in the gaming community. A double-standard being used against Stadia, when Stadia’s model doesn’t even fit the bill! Or am i missing something?
What do you think? Is this a good move from Xbox? Should Stadia follow? Should you be able to stream the games you’ve bought free of charge? Let me know what you think.
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Until I see otherwise, the thing I’m most annoyed with Microsoft for is that it feels like they’re solving all of the easy app and library problems left and right, but failing to properly solve the issues with the actual streaming experience.
That said, for streaming purchased games what I expect to be able to do is open the Game Pass application and play purchased games in it without a subscription. If that doesn’t bear out, I will share your frustration.
I agree wholeheartedly with your clear illustration of the hypocrisy in the gaming community. I suspect at this point, every cloud gaming service is losing money. The revenue model really needs to be fleshed out. But, I think you have point about this not being a particularly attractive model. If game sales help XBox recover the cost they are losing with every XBox sold (as they are more expensive to manufacture than the sale price), they should also help them offset server costs.
Unfortunately, the real cost of cloud gaming might be most visible in the ShadowPC membership costs. To bring costs down, Google, Amazon and others may need to find additional uses for the hardware during off-peak hours, avoid Windows licensing costs, optimize energy-efficiency etc.
I have a whole list of possible new revenue streams for them, that I’ve been sending to Stadia for the last year. I’ve sent it through emails, social media, bug reports, even through a Googler acquaintance. No indication yet if they’ve received them.