[ad_1]
A few days after the first indications of the start of repayments, the first testimonies on the operations in progress begin to arrive in Italy as well. Goole had warned via email that everything would materialize by January 2023 and apparently he kept his word. Just a few minutes ago we received the first emailwhich in chronological order from the first purchase, arranged for a refund of one of the Stadia titles we had purchased.
Others are coming soon and this is proof that the first attempt will be made with the payment method used during the purchase, i.e. PayPal in our case. Here is our screen showing the refund operations in progress.
For some, the start of refunds will be cold comfort while for others, a sign of good behavior from Google, but among those who feel that Google has done well with its cloud gaming service, there is none other than the administrator Microsoft Gaming delegate, Phil Spencer.
The executive wanted to have his say during an interview with The Verge, during which he touched on various topics, but more than anything else he paused to comment on the closure of Stadia,
Spencer had actually first mentioned this in an interview with wsj extension last month, during which he hinted that he felt part of the reason why this service failed. In this last interview, Spencer wanted to go further by stating that Google’s decision to launch Stadia as a subscription built around the purchase of games may not have been the best way to start. According to Spencer, the new experience should have started with something lower cost for users. Spencer went on to say that:
…we have added [il cloud gaming] to consoles and PCs, so we gave people options in the devices they already love, to play video games. If you don’t want to wait for that game to download to console, just play from the cloud. Not to make it something against consoles or PCs, but to continue in the direction people like to go to play, to extend and give them more options, including the business model of how a customer builds their library.
We must remember that Google Stadia only offered the possibility to play for free a few months after launch, but the service started with a business model that required a subscription to Stadia Pro and the purchase of physical hardware, as well as games.
Despite attempts to improve Stadia’s image, Google has never quite succeeded according to Spencer. Despite these premises, the executive believes that Google has done a “good job” with Stadia noting in particular the goodness of the technology behind it, further stating that hardware connected to Stadia was “strong”. In all respects, stability, general quality and very low input lag were unique characteristics of Stadia, which to date have not been achieved by the main competitors, at least according to our experience. But let’s see what Spencer said about it.
I have a lot of friends who have worked on Stadia and were there in the beginning. I love the technology investment they’ve made. I thought they did a good job building a cloud platform and the hardware they had was strong.
Spencer thinks Google’s efforts to build Stadia will never be entirely fruitless, as the potential of that infrastructure can be used to push demos or other real-time initiatives via social.
You could give creators the ability to deliver a game instantly to gamers, whether they’re watching YouTube, Twitch, TikTok, or whatever, or as a way to give out demos or builds to get feedback, I think there’s a real use for a cloud infrastructure that can allow creators to deliver gameplay to their customers almost instantly. Not excluding people who download and play games, but just as another option for them. Absolutely, I see that and I think what Google has built will find real application there. No doubt about it.
Indeed, in Google’s original presentation for Stadia, the company touted the ability for gamers to launch a title directly from a YouTube ad or link inserted into a trailer. That feature partially came with the platform’s free trials, but it hasn’t been as widely used as Google originally intended.
As for the Stadia shutdown and the risks for Xbox Game Pass cloud gaming of meeting the same fate, Phil Spencer said he takes “running a successful business is a very serious part” about his job and that Xbox is a profitable business. He added that he loves the various initiatives that are being carried out between xCloud, Game Pass, apps for PC and mobile devices, and therefore those who love the cloud gaming offered by Microsoft will be able to sleep peacefully.
[ad_2]
Source link
