Game streaming services - any reason I shouldn't use them?

[JonathanRyan]

There re BF deals on games all over at the moment and the Steam sale is likely to kick off "soon" but.....what about streaming?

Assuming I have a decent internet is there any reason I should just buy an X-Box pass / Ubisoft sub / even Stadia?

I'm looking at PC only gaming.

For example, if I shop hard, I can get Watch Dogs Legion for about £33. Or I can sub to Ubisfoft+ for £12.99 a month. Assuming I want to play another of their games in the first 3 months then it's cheaper. Is there some drawback I'm missing?

 

[Raymond Lin]

It all depends how many games you play, the more you play, the more value you get.

It also depends how you look at it. Do you look at it from an experience, or do you look at it in more tangible, physical copies that you sees value not just in experience but in the object that you can sell later on.

I sold my Xbox One last week, went through my drawer and it turns out I bought 2 games total in the entire 5 years of ownership....good thing I never got Game Pass (yes I know it didn't start 5 years ago). It turns out my habit (with life getting in the way), I only have time to play for games that I really want so I buy it, the rest I wait until they come out in PSN or XBL for free. If i am not bothered enough to buy it on release then I won't play it. Hell, I still have games sealed from Xbox 360 days that is sealed! Hence I stopped buying games on release now.

What's your habit? Because that is unlikely to change.

 

[JonathanRyan]

What's your habit? Because that is unlikely to change.

Thanks. That's a very good point.

I guess my habit is to spend days reading reviews about a game, imagining playing non stop, finally buying it and then realising I don't really enjoy it in the first couple of sessions and never playing it again

In some ways streaming makes sense for me, but I know I'm Ubi's dream. Somebody who thinks they will use it non stop but ends up like somebody who joins a gym in January and forgets to cancel until October....

 

[wyx087]

Be careful with Stadia, you still need to buy the games on there.

I think MS Game pass works differently? I know MS Flight Sim 2020 on game pass runs locally, you essentially buy access to the game like Adobe creative cloud.

 

[Raymond Lin]

Thanks. That's a very good point.

I guess my habit is to spend days reading reviews about a game, imagining playing non stop, finally buying it and then realising I don't really enjoy it in the first couple of sessions and never playing it again

In some ways streaming makes sense for me, but I know I'm Ubi's dream. Somebody who thinks they will use it non stop but ends up like somebody who joins a gym in January and forgets to cancel until October....

I find watching Twitch has killed off a lot of game buying needs for me. Sometimes I just want to see how a game plays, the environment, the mechanics in more detail than a 10min review video. Putting a game on Twitch on the telly in the background does all that without me spending a penny. Then I am saving the games I REALLY want to play and invest real time into and buy those.

 

[JonathanRyan]

Be careful with Stadia, you still need to buy the games on there.

I think MS Game pass works differently? I know MS Flight Sim 2020 on game pass runs locally, you essentially buy access to the game like Adobe creative cloud.

Yes, Stadia seems a bit of an oddity you (mostly) buy the games and then rent a super fast gaming PC to run them on. It's actually a really cool concept - cloud computing for gamers. But it seems to have little following and only a handful of major games. I worry a little that Google will lose interest in it and can it like they have with many previous projects.

I know that they *really* want it to succeed at the moment - buy Cyberpunk for 50 quid and get, err, £90 of kit free.

Pre-order Cyberpunk 2077 and Get Free Google Stadia This Black Friday (techadvisor.co.uk)

But if/when they lose interest, then what?

 

[Raymond Lin]

Yes, Stadia seems a bit of an oddity you (mostly) buy the games and then rent a super fast gaming PC to run them on. It's actually a really cool concept - cloud computing for gamers. But it seems to have little following and only a handful of major games. I worry a little that Google will lose interest in it and can it like they have with many previous projects.

I know that they *really* want it to succeed at the moment - buy Cyberpunk for 50 quid and get, err, £90 of kit free.

Pre-order Cyberpunk 2077 and Get Free Google Stadia This Black Friday (techadvisor.co.uk)

But if/when they lose interest, then what?

I saw that, I must say I am tempted. Instead of trying to find a PS5 to play it. On paper it makes sense to get this bundle but you are right, in a year or 2, like so many of their projects, the latest being Google Music...where does it go? It's not like they have YouTube Games to port your account over.