Google Stadia Will Still Fail [OPINION]

On November 17, Kotaku reported that Google has added 10 more games to its launch lineup of Stadia, and it still won’t be enough to make it successful.

When Stadia was announced on March 19, it was met with very mixed opinions. My initial opinion was about how Google plans to pull of a streaming device for very large and high-quality games. Questions about an all digital future and whether it’s even viable right now was up in the air. Those questions still remain, and Google knows there are doubts about the success of Stadia.

As we reported previously, Google responded by adding 10 more games to Stadia. Unfortunately for Google, this won’t work. Stadia will fail. Not because it’s bad technology or the technology isn’t viable, but because gamers don’t want it.

You can call me old fashioned, but I still purchase physical copies of my games. Many gamers exercise the ability to buy physical games as well because of the feeling of ownership. An all-digital future could spell bad news and that’s been echoed in the concerns with Stadia. When a company no longer has the rights to a game, the game has the chance of disappearing.

A long while ago I purchased physical PC copies of The Battle for Middle Earth one and two as well as the expansion for the second game. Originally, Electronic Arts owned the rights to make Lord of the Rings video games. That has since changed and therefore they do not have the right to sell the game. It is not available for purchase on Origin. The only way I can enjoy those wonderful real time strategy games is either to put in a physical disc or pirate the game. Those shouldn’t be the only options in 2019.

This in lies the issue with Stadia. An all-digital future is terrifying. Not even films are all digital. When a new movie releases I can still go out and purchase a physical disc of that film. Video games are such a young media that we should be fighting against an all-digital future to preserve video game history.