On Monday, Google launched Stadia, a new cloud gaming subscription service, priced at $10 per month, reported Quartz. However, the new system is already running into challenges due to its data-heavy streaming requirement compared to the average monthly data allowance for the average broadband customer (a.k.a. broadband caps).
Per a report by Vice, for Stadia customers with 4K televisions, the service could eat through as much as 15.75 GB per hour, or roughly 1.38 TB per month if gamers play an average of 22 hours per week.
Stadia responded to the criticism by advising that the service is best for customers with “modern” ISPs.
“ISPs have a long history of adapting to consumer behavior,” Patrick Seybold, head of communications for Stadia, wrote in an email. “In this day and age of streaming video, music, security cameras, photo backups, video conferencing, and other high bandwidth applications, gamers are best served by ISPs with modern offerings.”
Per Stadia’s director of product, Andrey Doronichev, a feature allows gamers to adjust their data use to as low as 4.5 GB per hour. Some ISPs have no limit on data use; others enact a broadband cap. Critics of these caps claim they have no purpose other than to make ISPs more money, according to Quartz.
Data consumption has increased exponentially over the past few years due to streaming services and 4K televisions. Comcast reported that median users are consuming 200GB of their 1TB allowance per month, a jump of 34 percent over the same period the year prior. Additionally, a study by TDG Research found that 71 percent of U.S. households have four or more screens. This trend of data-hungry services is likely to continue, according to Quartz.
November 20, 2019
The post Google’s New Stadia Gaming Service Thwarted By “Broadband Caps” appeared first on Inside Towers.