This article originally ran under a different banner/website in April of 2019 and is now being here re-uploaded for purposes of convenience and consolidation. Please enjoy.
Early in the 21st Century, Google launched the Google Stadia – a streaming service designed to be the Netflix for games – thus ending physical media. Game publishers jumped on the service because it allowed them to complete control of the medium. Ubisoft was the first to jump on the service with Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, but when it came time for the next Assassin’s Creed game, they pulled Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey from Stadia to force players to buy the next iteration to the series. Activision and EA soon followed suit with the Call of Duty and FIFA games. The publishers soon lobbied to declare consoles and physical media illegal on earth – under penalty of death. Special police squads – DISC RUNNERS UNITS – had orders to shoot to kill, upon detection, anybody in possession of consoles or physical media. This was not called execution. It was called retirement.
On March 19, Google announced their new project the Google Stadia: Google’s attempt to create a streaming service that would allow you to stream games to any TV or device. THE FUTURE OF GAMING boasts Google. They offer instant access to games without downloads or updates. A Netflix for games. An idea that I have become very tired of because you know publishers are only interested in Netflix-styled money, not Netflix-styled service. As always, the idea of gaming without download or updates is intriguing, in a vacuum, but gaming publishers will always find a way to make this idea turn sour.
I have recently become skeptical of allowing our games to exist in a digital cloud. What happens to those games when the servers shut down? While some don’t see that happening on a large scale with something like Steam, it has happened before. Cast your eye to Cliff Bleszinski’s studio Boss Key Production. Failing to set the world on fire with hero shooter Lawbreakers and battle royale Radical Heights, Bleszinski was forced to close the studio on May 14, 2018. Along with the studio, the servers for Lawbreakers were taken offline, resulting in players unable to play the game. As someone who preferred Lawbreakers over Overwatch (if you can believe that), I am disheartened by the fact I cannot play Lawbreakers anymore. Worse, it makes me question the future of my Steam library. What happens if Epic is able to overpower Steam and cause Value to shut down. Do I need to stock up on hard drives so I can download my entire Steam library? No one seems to know.
This issue doesn’t only extend to studio closures, even though those issues are becoming far too common. With the shift to digital download over physical discs, publishers can merely snap their fingers and can make a game turn to dust. Don’t believe this will ever happen? Let me tell you about a game called PT. PT was a demo developed by Kojima Production in collaboration with Guillermo Del Toro. Using a single repeating hallway, PT was able to paint a gruesome story and a nerve-wrenching atmosphere. Fear usually comes from venturing into unknown territory, but PT was able to defy that belief by creating fear in a space that the player becomes more familiar with. While just being a horrifying experience on its own, PT unlocked a reveal trailer for the upcoming Silent Hills.
Unfortunately, studio head Hideo Kojima and publisher, Konami, had a falling out. Out of pure spite, Konami eventually canceled Silent Hills and removed PT from the PlayStation Store. Since PT was only meant to herald the announcement of Silent Hills, no physical copies were made; thus making the demo a rare gem. You can scour the internet for a PS4 containing the demo, but they will cost you a pretty penny to acquire. Having games only available on cloud streaming service could create the same type of dynamic. Konami removed PT out of wrath, imagine what would happen when publishers are motivated by greed.
The game industry has expanded so fast that just making more money than last year isn’t enough. May I remind you that Activision Blizzard laid off eight hundred employees following record-breaking profits? With microtransactions, season passes, DLC, multiple tier editions, extravagant collector’s editions, free-to-play economies, and gambling mechanics infecting the medium, I cannot say in good faith that the games industry will not resist the temptation to grab another fistful of dollars. If it is more advantageous for Activision to pull last year’s Call of Duty to railroad you into the newest Call of Duty, they will do it, and with Google’s history of being friendly with big companies, the possibility is very likely.
The good news is Stadia is probably not going to take off anytime soon. With the constant need to send information back and forth between players and data centers, the need for strong broadband infrastructure cannot be understated, but not even countries, like the US, can say they are up to the task. I have no doubt though, that having complete control over the games they sell, will entice big publishers to push Google to get this off the ground. Publishers might even jump into this even if the infrastructure is not ready. Think of all the multiplayer games that launched to have servers immediately come crashing down. As long as they get the money, they don’t care if players can actually play the game. We are merely cattle to be milked to provide dairy to the precious investors.
While it may appear that I am completely against Stadia, I will assure you I am not against the idea. Much like Netflix, I believe it could be a great service to complement a physical medium. Much like some movies, I might play a game once on Stadia and never touch again; while in other games, I am going to want a physical copy to play over and over again. Unfortunately, if you present an opportunity for the games industry to have complete control over how you play games, they will seize it. Why continue to create physical copies when they could present you the opportunity to merely rent the game until the next sequel comes out? Frankly, all this has made me glad I invested in consoles. When the publishers eventually use the Stadia to force you to play games the way they want, I will be the one they send the Disc Runners after. I will be the defender of the medium before the corporate overlords gain dominance. I will be the one to preserve games because I continue to believe in the power of the medium, even when its end is nigh.
