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Comment by SoupyDolphin | Hacker News Reader

Discussions around Stadia always fail to mention the alternatives.

I've been using GeForce Now with a Nvidia Shield for over a year now and it's been a great experience. The hardware costs are the same as the Stadia ($130), it's free to use while the beta period lasts, and you can play all the games you've already purchased on Steam, BattleNet, Epic etc. in 4k.

Why would I buy all the games AGAIN on Stadia when I can access them on GeForce now? The social/streaming aspect of Stadia is not a big draw for me either, so I really don't see the advantage from my perspective.

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Stadia can have $0 in additional hardware costs (assuming you already have a computer that runs Chrome).

The fact that you already own the games on other platforms doesn't necessarily apply to potential Stadia users.

Plus, you're comparing Stadia's release price to GeForce Now's beta price. Not really a fair comparison

> Stadia can have $0 in additional hardware costs (assuming you already have a computer that runs Chrome).

I think this also applies to Gefore Now.

> The fact that you already own the games on other platforms doesn't necessarily apply to potential Stadia users.

True, but as long as you have a computer you might be better off buying games on steam because you can always play them offline if you want to in the future, even if the service stops existing.

> Plus, you're comparing Stadia's release price to GeForce Now's beta price. Not really a fair comparison

Stadia isn't even available yet. I guess when Stadia is out and GeForce is out of beta it will be possible to do a better comparison?

Agree with your points. Just think the OP was being misleading about the hardware costs for either platform.

"Release price" is a bit strong for a Google service. "Launch price", maybe. Google launched their reputation on launching services as "Beta", it does seem entirely fair to compare a Google service's "launch price" as a "beta price", given that reputation.

I'd be glad to pay a 'match' fee, where they match my library for a small fee per game. But buying $60 games again is not going to happen. This might mean I purchase future games on Stadia.... Maybe. But not games I already own.

I feel that's a huge advantage of Nvidia's solution. I'd probably rather pay $10/mo to play my existing Steam games and continue buying games on Steam. Then I'd own them. If Nvidia closes their streaming service, I still have my games. If Google closed Stadia, you'd lose everything!

Have you tried any multiplayer FPS games where latency is very critical? I'm sure both Stadia and GeForce would perform reasonably well for single player and networked coop games but am a little skeptical about real FPS multiplayer games being as good as local games because there are too many variables involved such as other players on the server also need to have as good a connection as you. Very interested in hearing about your experiences.

These days I'm mostly a couch/casual gamer, and I don't play latency critical games so much anymore. That being said, I've played many PVP matches on Destiny 2 and the experience has been fine.

I'll try some more latency critical games tonight and see how it is, but your assumption that single player and coop games run well is correct. You do get some resolution drops every now and then, but I would imagine this to be the case with any game streaming service.

Isn't the difference also that Stadia is streaming from Google servers or nodes while the Nvidia Shield and Steam Link just stream from your computer via LAN? I would assume that would create more possible vectors for high latency which is the main worry for most people.

No the games stream from Nvidia's servers, no LAN and no computer needed.

Thanks for clarifying!

Nvidia does both. The online product is just called Geforce Now (previously Nvidia GRID)

Stadia can be played on Chrome though which runs pretty much everywhere, with an Xbox controller. The Google founder's edition is just buying some extra stuff for 30$ worth of sub time for free basically.

The advantage to buying the Stadia controller, as I understand it, is that it (the controller) connects directly to the game instance and doesn't get proxied through the system streaming the game -- which can decrease latency.

I enjoy using GeForce now in the private beta for free, but from what I heard their pricing was going to look something like 25$ a month or something ridiculous like that.

Compared to that, Stadia is free at 1080p, and 10$ at 4k, that's much cheaper. They also have in my experience better latency, and support more devices (any pc/laptop with a browser, chromecast, phone, etc).

Good points. I think the value of each offering greatly depends on whether you already have a Steam (or similar) library of games.

Google's standard business - Give it for free or almost free, push competitors out of business, then use your data for ads.

THis is cool to hear about, since I've been considering an NVidia Shield TV for awhile now for some other use cases. But being able to play my Steam collection, without having a PC around would be awesome, too. In fact, I really don't have much use for my PC anymore, then.

It works surprisingly well but not great for FPS. I can't recommend the shield enough though. The thing is 2 years old still gets constant updates. I have it streaming 4k HDR content off server and it works great.

I wanted to use it as a Plex client and a retro video gaming machine.

It works well as a Plex client. I'm guessing it would have no issues with emulators

Exactly. I moved coasts and sold my gaming PC, bought a Shield in the meantime, and haven't felt the need to shell out for another PC build because the Shield does it all for me.

The big advantage Stadia has over GeForce Now is that for GeForce Now you have to have a machine capable of playing those games in the first place. If you have a great gaming PC, then Stadia probably isn't for you.

Edit: I was mistaken. i was thinking on nVidia GameStream feature that allows you to stream from your PC to Shiled in your home.

You’re mistaken about GeForce Now - it streams games running in nVidia’s servers. If I remember correctly, based on Intel Xeon and their own Volta GPUs.

GeForce Now has its own library of streamable titles for purchase, but it also allows you to link your Steam (and others) account to authorize streaming of games you already own and happen to be available in their library. But they run remotely.

I was very impressed with it, and my comparisons between streaming from nVidia’s remote servers or my own gaming PC yielded negligible differences in visual performance and latency. Your mileage will naturally vary.

GeForce Now is streaming like Stadia. You don’t need a great PC. You don’t need any PC.

This. You don't need a PC at all, I don't have one, just a TV and a Shield, and GeForce Now works great for me. I just buy Steam games through their website and it works perfectly.

It does not look like I can use it from either my Chromebook or my TV (Roku or Chromecast), where as Stadia indicates that it will be playable on my Chromebook, Android phone, and Chromecast.

Wrong, GeForce Now is a streaming service -- https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/products/geforce-now/

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