Earlier this year there were rumors about a certain project codenamed Yeti by Google that aimed to be a video game streaming service. It seems like there were actually some truth behind those rumors as today Google announced Project Stream.

While still a test, the service does not seem to be restricted to video game streaming as the project is advertised as "a test of Google’s streaming technologies in the US". However to kickstart things, Google has opted for streaming a video game and has partnered with Ubisoft to test the streaming capabilities of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey.

"We’re inspired by the game creators who spend years crafting these amazing worlds, adventures and experiences, and we’re building technology that we hope will support and empower that creativity," says Product Manager Catherine Hsiao.

A video boasting a 1080p, 60 fps stream of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey from Project Stream has even been released to show off what the platform is capable of.

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Should you be interested, Google is currently looking for people to test its new platform and further makes note that "Project Stream is geared toward home internet connections capable of 25 megabits per second, and you must be 17 years or older and live in the U.S. to participate".

What do you think of Google's venture into the gaming world? Do you think that the future of gaming lies in streaming? Share your thoughts below!

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[HaloEliteLegend]

Meh, game ownership is overrated. When you lead a busy life, all you need is access until you're done or drop a game because the fate of most games is to disappear into a closet somewhere or get lost in your digital library, never to be played. The real problem is how little people actually have the internet speeds required to make game streaming a viable thing. Internet infrastructure in most of the world is garbage.

There is a solution on the horizon, and that is 5G. If 5G can be rolled out properly, it could ensure fast internet for everyone, everywhere, and would make game streaming actually viable and not just a fleeting fancy.
Buuuuut we already have predatory and pricy 5G zoning laws and all kinds bullshit in place so the likelihood of that going smoothly is very low.

Until the entire world has reliable internet access, offline play is still valid and very much needed, so don't think that's just gonna disappear with the advent of digital game streaming services.

 

[Ronhero]

Just upgraded my internet to 1gbps from work. Hopefully my company doesn't start charging for the employee speed increase before this is released

 

[sephiro499]

Nice for those living in developed areas of developed countries.

I'm not sure that the big console manufactures and developers care about those off the network grid so to speak. Remember when the xbox one came out with their DRM system? Someone asked an xbox executive 'what do people without internet do' the response was "we already have a product for that, it's called an xbox 360'. Think about it, they aren't interested in those gamers who wont pay for p2p online subscription/dlc/microtransactions.

 

[Deleted User]

This will never take off in Australia until either party starts taking NBN seriously.

 

[Wrathcaster]

I pay around 25 euro for a 3-4 mbps connection. I dont know if its better around the bigger areas, but its horribe and expensive here. Also I have to pay 15 euro monthly to not get a 250 gig limit, which is extremly low. We are 5 people in out house and we all use internet services. There was a time where we only had 200 kbps connections for months. It was absolutely dreadful.

Its not like I have interest in those streaming things anyways. The maket is way too oversatured right now.

I feel your pain, in Scotland I was paying 29 euro for 1meg connection until only last year, then fibre came out and helllllo glorious 70mb speeeeeeds.

 

[orangy57]

I've said it a thousand times and I'll say it a thousand more
game streaming will never be feasible within the confines of our universe

 

[Glitchk0ud1001]

i think streaming is fine "for movies" but don't make it the only thing future because it will be a disaster (Also in Mexico the internet kinda sucks)

 

[HEADBOY]

This will be cool for a year or two, before Google cancels the project. Or builds a competing service and pushes that one instead and leaves this to rot before cancelling it much later.

Just like what happened to Android TV? I remember four years ago Google were touting it be the most revolutionary way to use your TV, I even have the ADT-1 developer unit. Not too long after Chromecast blew up, Android TV was out on the sidelines until eventually dying a silent death.

 

[Edgarska]

Cool, now we can have compression artifacts even while playing.

 

[AT-LOWDeSu]

I think what people seem to be missing is the fact that you can stream high end PC games on a low end desktop. In theory, even a $300 chromebook has the 'power' to stream a game that could previously only run on a $1,400 gaming desktop. This isn't for people who are able to invest in an insane rig, it's for people who want to get a basic computer and pay a fee to stream a lot of games. It's a budget alternative to the core experience.

It'll benefit a huge portion of gamers, imo.

 

[Yepi69]

I'm all in for game streaming, I think it should become the next standard along side video streaming and audio streaming. However Google, you picked a company who couldn't make a fucking Tetris game, let alone help you stream their own fucking mess of a game.

 

[Captain_N]

No, I like to have my games on my hard drives so publishers can't dictate to me when or where I can play my games. Games should be goods, not services.

I'm with you 100%. I will never give my hard earned money to any video game streaming service. If and when it becomes the only way to play video games then i will stop playing anything new. I have one hell of a back catalog of games from 1990-2020 to play. Ill wait till the game is copied off the servers by talented hackers and run the game on my own hardware if possible.

For this service to work you better provide 1gigabit up/down internet for $40/month. And you better not ever throttle and limit downloads. Imagine when everything is streaming and you have bandwidth limits..... I will continue to archive my media for the time when this streaming media is common place. Illl be able to watch what ever i collect and they cant stop me. Its just like recording with a vhs tape. Id buy netflix but you dont let me download anything so nope GTFO

I'm all in for game streaming, I think it should become the next standard along side video streaming and audio streaming. However Google, you picked a company who couldn't make a fucking Tetris game, let alone help you stream their own fucking mess of a game.

You like paying to have an organization tell you to stop playing a game you like? Pick something you really like doing and then pay me $50 a month. Then ill make it so you can never do that one thing you like doing for all time... Ill be glad to take ya money i got hard drives and servers to by....

 

[AT-LOWDeSu]

I'm with you 100%. I will never give my hard earned money to any video game streaming service. If and when it becomes the only way to play video games then i will stop playing anything new. I have one hell of a back catalog of games from 1990-2020 to play. Ill wait till the game is copied off the servers by talented hackers and run the game on my own hardware if possible.

For this service to work you better provide 1gigabit up/down internet for $40/month. And you better not ever throttle and limit downloads. Imagine when everything is streaming and you have bandwidth limits..... I will continue to archive my media for the time when this streaming media is common place. Illl be able to watch what ever i collect and they cant stop me. Its just like recording with a vhs tape. Id buy netflix but you dont let me download anything so nope GTFO



You like paying to have an organization tell you to stop playing a game you like? Pick something you really like doing and then pay me $50 a month. Then ill make it so you can never do that one thing you like doing for all time... Ill be glad to take ya money i got hard drives and servers to by....

It's easy for you to say, if you've got the money for the games you want to play. For a lot of people paying 10-20 bucks a month to get 10-20 games that they can play interchangeably is a superior option to paying 60 bucks for a single game.


E.G. I'd rather pay 60 bucks to get a great library of games for 3 months than to pay 60 bucks to have a permanent copy of a single game.

Though, that's only for 90% of games. I admit there are the 10% of the games that I will play over and over again, that I would gladly pay full price to have forever. I think the idea is maintaining both options and not letting one take over.

 

[the_randomizer]

It's pretty sad that companies are trying to do something like this, given that many ISPs have bandwidth caps, love to throttle, piss poor infrastructures in many developed countries, yeah, this'll take off, alright

 

[D34DL1N3R]

I feel your pain, in Scotland I was paying 29 euro for 1meg connection until only last year, then fibre came out and helllllo glorious 70mb speeeeeeds.

How much are they raping you for 70Mb fiber? I get 100 down/10 up (non-fiber) for $60, which is approx €52. Before I moved back to my super small ass home town I was with a fiber company who offered these prices. I sure do miss them.

50 Mbps Up/Down $34.95 / month
100 Mbps Up/Down $44.95 / month
250 Mbps Up/Down $54.95 / month
1 Gbps Up/Down $69.95 / month
10 Gbps Up/Down $298.00 / month

And those prices already have tax/surcharges/fees included. I'm getting less than half the down speed and a fraction of up speed here then I did at my old place, but I pay more. It's so stupid. There should be more regulations on speeds & pricing. A person shouldn't have to worry about paying MORE for LESS speeds when they move or swtich isps.

 

[MaxiBash]

...Google clearly has never heard of Parsec.

 

[Steena]

Like it or not, this is where the industry is going.
Let's see what happends, and if Google can get the best of it. I wish some luck for them.

Like it or not, 95%+ of the world is still routed with copper not fiber at every level up the main station, so the shit doesn't physically work
you can pretend your experience is not ruined by hoops of lootboxes if you're a non-enthusiast, you cannot pretend the footage is not freezing every 2 seconds for one second, that one everyone will be annoyed about.
The industry cannot go there unless they are okay with losing the majority of their base or they start funding the digging of holes to fiber the world up themselves

 

[Foxi4]

I pay around 25 euro for a 3-4 mbps connection. I dont know if its better around the bigger areas, but its horribe and expensive here. Also I have to pay 15 euro monthly to not get a 250 gig limit, which is extremly low. We are 5 people in out house and we all use internet services. There was a time where we only had 200 kbps connections for months. It was absolutely dreadful.

Its not like I have interest in those streaming things anyways. The maket is way too oversatured right now.

You need to renegotiate your contract. Even a small amount of Google-fu shows that there are several providers offering 100Mbps down/50Mbps up with no cap for 19,99 - unless you live in some kind of rural neighbourhood you shouldn't be getting speeds like this.

 

[Reploid]

The problem is just that Germany has alot of old internet lines. Most of them are easily 10 years old. So something like this is absolutely useless to me and would be more useful as a doorstopper. Who would like to stream games so they have worse quality, input lag and they dont even own the games?

How cum? I thought this country is kinda advanced.

 

[Bedel]

Like it or not, 95%+ of the world is still routed with copper not fiber at every level up the main station, so the shit doesn't physically work
you can pretend your experience is not ruined by hoops of lootboxes if you're a non-enthusiast, you cannot pretend the footage is not freezing every 2 seconds for one second, that one everyone will be annoyed about.
The industry cannot go there unless they are okay with losing the majority of their base or they start funding the digging of holes to fiber the world up themselves

Why do I feel like you are attaking me directly? XD Guys look, I gave my opinion about this. I don't need you to say if I'm rigth or not. Also I feel like you think I like streaming games services. I'm just curious about what's gonna happend, I wish luck this company (because I have no reason at all to hate them), and I can see this as a model in a future. World's internet structure is changing day after day, and it gets faster with time. I'm not saying that I want this in exchange for consoles right now. I'm saying that I can see how this can be a thing in the future.
Really, people don't have to be defending something when they say something good about it, nor hate it when they say something bad. People can be curious about things.