Google, Stadia and Immersive Stream believe it or not, are still getting conversation on the Internet, including Google’s own silence on metrics for the system that has been a well-kept secret so far.
But in an unusual official interview, Google’s VP of Products Dov Zimring, was interviewed by Forbes focusing Stadia to an unusual Google executive and yes, Zimring has something to add to some of the questions about Stadia and also Immersive Stream, the corporate variant of Stadia.
Are there any major differences between the tech used for Immersive Stream for Games vs Stadia?
No. In fact, the first platform to use Immersive Stream for Games was Stadia, which continues to utilize it to deliver new features for Stadia developers, publishers and players.
With today’s launch of Control Ultimate Edition, you can see how Immersive Stream for Games powers a gameplay loop for AT&T that’s very similar to the one that Stadia offers to its developer partners. With the power of the cloud, it’s as simple as a click in your browser or a tap on your phone to jump into full AAA games — and it’s that discoverability for players that is making it easier than ever to transition into cloud gaming.
What does this launch mean for Google? Why is it important for the team?
This launch is a great affirmation for Immersive Stream for Games. It represents a continued collaboration with AT&T as our first customer, especially following the public reveal of Immersive Stream for Games back in March. Powering the award-winning Control Ultimate Edition from 505 Games with support for gameplay on smartphones and tablets, this launch helps showcase the possibilities that we’re creating for publishers interested in delivering their own AAA games directly to consumers across any device.
So basically, the narrative of Google Stadia has changed that it was a sub product and the whole idea was originally what we know today as Immersive Stream.
For those who still don't know…
Immersive Stream is the B2B variant of Stadia managed through Google Cloud, leaving a link with corporate clients for Google that needs to showcase content like games or high fidelity graphical and/or video without labeling Stadia or a concept known as White-Label.
AT&T is the only known customer of Immersive Stream but there are some noise that Google is about to announce more partners including Bungie, Stadia’s first developer to create a game, which is Destiny 2, Capcom to develop a testing and demo platform for gamers and Peloton (before their current existential crisis) was in talk to develop a game for its intelligent exercise machines and using Immersive Stream as back-end.
My take in this remains the same I had said on Twitter, Stadia is here to stay as long Immersive Stream remains viable and of course, this means that our input as gamers only count as Stadia but Google if depriotizing Stadia is needed to Immersive Stream to run, needs at least to have the consumer on their side and MORE COMMUNICATION!!!
Yes, this is a convenient way to say that "everything is as planned" but the reality is that, unless Immersive Stream was a HIGH-PROFILE SECRET from Google, I don't believe Immersive Stream was the end or at best scenario, it was a reaction rather than a proactivity.
But again, it is undeniable that Stadia now depends on Immersive Stream to subsist.