Google recently announced its upcoming cloud game streaming service that will allow consumers to game on any device with a Chrome browser.
Although Google announced that its service would be available in the US, Canada, UK, and Europe at a later date in 2019, no details about a launch in India were provided.
According to a new report, the company is looking to launch the service by 2021 in India. But considering India’s average 6.5 Mbps connection speed is way below Stadia’s high demands – 25 Mbps for gaming in FHD resolution and 30 Mbps for 4K gaming - it will be a tough task for Google.
A 25 Mbps connection can leave Indian consumers with a severe dent in their wallets.
Google will have to work directly with Internet service providers around the country to offer affordable connections with reasonable data caps. Apart from data caps and connection speeds, latency is another big hurdle in front of Stadia’s path to gaming domination.
At GDC 2019, Google Stadia’s capabilities were showcased in a controlled environment and even then, they bordered on average.
Considering import duties on gaming hardware inflates prices of everything from consoles to graphics card, a hardware-less alternative could be an excellent solution to the dilemma most price-conscious Indian gamers - who demand value-for-money, face.
Google isn’t the only company launching a cloud game streaming service this year. Microsoft, Sony and Nvidia will also be bringing their cloud gaming services to global audiences. Sony and Microsoft could leverage the service with their upcoming consoles, while Nvidia already has a 3,00,000-strong user base on its GeForce Now platform and 1 million more signed up for the beta, Google is in for a tough fight for the title of number one.
India has already seen a massive rise in mobile gamers thanks to titles like PUBG Mobile and Clash Royale, which should give Google Stadia the edge it needs to succeed in India's ever-growing gaming market.
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