Google's Stadia works now on mobile networks

Matti Robinson
9 Oct 2020 12:08

Google's strategy with their cloud gaming platform Stadia was all along to compete on all platforms and with all devices. However, the hardest problems to solve don't at all come from the devices of their platforms but from the connections.
The toughest one to do properly is mobile internet. Mobile phones and their data plans aren't well suited for the latency driven entertainment. That is why while Google has promised mobile data gaming on Stadia, it has been under the Experimental umbrella for the past few months.
Now, Google has decided that its stable enough that it can be enjoyed by everyone.
There are some disclaimers, though. The gaming quality is limited to 720p, and there's now word if or when this will go up.
Also, one has to consider the data transfer rates in a country that doesn't offer many unlimited plans. Google says that Stadia will use up to 2.7 GB/hr of 4G or 5G mobile data.
That translates to average of 45 megabytes a minute or around 750kB per second. That should be easily accessible with both 5G and good 4G connections.
In games where latency is a problem at all, the transfer speed isn't usually the problem. That is unfortunately largely a luck of the draw, since you cannot really choose where Google's servers are located, and mobile data pings are very unreliable to begin with, at least on 4G.
There's also an issue with the Stadia controller because of the WiFi connection it requires. You can't use it in wireless mode while playing on mobile data.
Nonetheless, it is nice that Google has finally made mobile data gaming available to all.