Is stadia worth at this point of time?

From my experience no:

* The input lag is _still_ noticeable. I've tried this from multiple locations on various devices, all with extremely good internet (one of them was in the UK with gigabit internet) and the lag was always there. I'm not ultra-snesitive to input lag either - I regularly use Nvidia GFN, which also has some input lag, but it's actually playable.

* The overall experience is very unpolished. You'll most likely get stuff to work but, if anything fails, you're gonna have to post on google forums and hope someone will be able to help you. (It's google, so no support). Also, none of the features promised at launch (join a game from YT, large MMO worlds etc) have been delivered.

* It's google, so who knows how long the platform will be around for. (It's a meme, yes, but it's also a real risk, compounded by the fact that you'll own the games that you buy solely on Stadia)

* You have to re-purchase games that you already own. e.g. if you own a title on Steam, you can't play it on Stadia, you have to buy it all over again.

EDIT: if you like what Stadia is claiming to offer, I suggest you look at Nvidia's GeForceNow, which has a couple of advantages:

* You can play the titles that you own on Steam

* (In my experience) gameplay is smoother

The one disadvantage is that games get removed from GFN based on the whims of the publishers (you'll still own the titles on Steam, you just won't be able to play them on GFN).

It seems some of your info is outdated and I suggest trying again. The input lag had gotten tremendously better this last year and imo isn't noticeable unless you play at competition level, and only with certain games.

I haven't seen any bugs in the past few months. You can also join games from Youtube now (launched like 3 or so weeks ago).

Google has never abandoned paid services, only free ones. Although they do migrate them sometimes like with Play to Youtube Music.

The repurchasing of games is valid criticism. I know they are currently working on adding support for Ubisoft+ games, which I believe will be live 2021 Q1 based off language in their updates.

I last tried Stadia in early Dec (on the gigabit connection in the UK). Still too laggy to the point where it significantly affected gameplay and I gave up after a while.

Wasn't aware of the YT thing.

What is the input latency? Best case, avg?

There is a very large segment of the gaming community that's all about the 120-144hz experience these days. A lot of that is how it feels. At "just" 120hz that's only 8.33 frame time. You start throwing in 20ms of input latency on top of all the rest and you'll never get that 120hz experience.

It doubly won't cut it for the PC VR crowd. Ever.

That's high-end low latency experience but where things are headed and certainly noticable by non-pro gamers. But sure, it's high-end.. Even though the PS5 supports 120hz.

But forgetting high end, 20ms is more than a frames time at 60hz! PC Gamer's review of Stadia had the input lag as high as like 70ms on some titles doubling the total input latency!

I'm confident when I say that Stadia/GFN will never be good enough for anything that you want to play competitively.

For example, I wouldn't use it to play CS, LoL, DotA or any other competitive game where reflexes matter.

However, these services are great for AAA single player games, like Witcher 3, Cyberpunk, RDR, The Last of Us etc. You can max out the graphics and enjoy the story/game world.

It doesn't have a ton of games, but if it has the games you're interested in, why not? I just ordered the Premiere bundle (to get 4K) and expect to play Red Dead Redeption 2, Jedi Fallen Order and The Elder Scrolls Online. They don't have much else that interests me at the moment, but so what? It's only $99.

Their Outcasters is great. I agree the selection isn't large, but they'll be bringing much more in 2021 and so far have been living up to that promise that past month or so. Looking forward to EA games being added along with more AAA titles that they promised. They'll also be adding Ubisoft+ support so you can play those games through Stadia.

That depends.

If you have a high end gaming pc, probably not, but if you have a regular laptop or want to play on your tv, then I'd say yes

Edit

Should add that you need a solid internet connection

> That depends.

Do you care if you actually own your games? Or are OK with google owning the games, they just allow you to play them?

FTFY

You don’t own your games on any platform anymore unless you are buying physical console games. It’s more a question of do you trust the store.

I trust steam to continue existing and providing access for a very long time. I do not expect that stadia will still exist in 10 years. If the service ends up failing, they aren’t going to have gaming hardware sitting around for you to use it.

Personally, I don't as I struggle to remember the last time I replayed a game but I can understand how some people would be put off by this.

I very rarely replay any games I buy so frankly no it doesn't matter much to me.

Solid as in continuous. My internet is nothing to write home about and I've had no issues.

I tried with Destiny 2 and it worked just fine. However, with GeForce Now I can just use the (supported) games I already own and it works just as well.

Google will probably kill this service before long. I'd rather trust Steam and Uplay with the actual game purchase.

I've tried both but for me Stadia takes the cake. Also Google never canceled a paid service as far as I'm aware, only free ones (paid ones are just migrated, such as Play > Youtube Music).

You should probably consider giving Shadow a try. You get a full Windows desktop and can run whatever you want in it.

shadow is looking very promising but it is not available to my region yet.. that would be the perfect solution indeed