Google launches Stadia, its game-streaming platform

THE LAUNCH in 2018 of “Red Dead Redemption 2” was a huge event in the history of entertainment. It raked in $725m in its first three days, behind only “Avengers: Endgame”, a recent superhero flick, and “Grand Theft Auto V”, a game from 2013—and that despite being available only to owners of pricey games consoles. On November 19th it became available to an even wider audience with the launch of Stadia, Google’s game-streaming service.

Streaming lets anyone with an internet connection play any game by farming out the computational heavy lifting required to run gaming software to cloud servers. It will not replace consoles overnight; both Microsoft and Sony are launching new machines next year. But by offering the option to play blockbuster games like “Red Dead Redemption 2” without paying upfront for hardware, it could lure owners of comparatively feeble devices such as smartphones, tablets and TVs to cutting-edge games.

If, that is, the companies can pull it off. Streaming a film or a song is straightforward. Data can be downloaded ahead of time to smooth out connection hiccups. Not for games, which must react instantaneously to players’ moves and vice versa. Even with a rock-solid connection commands take time to travel from the controller to the data centre and back. This can introduce annoying delays.

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