Day 2 at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2019 was without a doubt dominated by the announcement of Google Stadia, a cloud-based game streaming platform. This service—scheduled for release in 2019—is set to change the landscape of gaming for many years, but it does have some serious unanswered questions and could be less than a dominant force in the gaming market. Not to be lost in the shadows, Tuesday also saw the partnership between Unity and Tencent, bringing the capability of the cloud to the rugged game development engine.
Google: Stadia
Google announced its new cloud-based streaming service, Stadia, during its 1:00 pm ET keynote; although some details are lacking, the technology looks promising. Stadia is a game streaming service built on top of the Google Data Center network, which includes over 7,500 edge nodes and is connected by high-speed fiber-optic links around the globe. While game streaming services have been lackluster in the past, Google appears to have the technology and network backbone to support its attempt at this type of service.