Google has big plans for the “future of gaming”, and we’re ever so close to finding out what that entails. The search engine giant, come tech wiz, come quantum computing mogul, is about to take the stage over at GDC in San Francisco to unveil its vision. And if you couldn’t get over to ‘the Golden State’ (wait is that really California’s nickname?), you can watch the whole event live through the power of streaming right here.
For years rumours have circulated of Google limbering up for a stint in the gaming world. Tentatively referred to as Project Yeti for the better part of the last few years, its gaming aspirations were all but confirmed when the company announced Project Stream late 2018.
Through the service gamers were able to stream one title for free: Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. The gaming experience was generally well-received, too. Many claimed the service offered a playable performance above expectations for an in-browser solution. Although, as is the case with many a streaming service, you won’t have much luck out in the sticks where reliable, fast internet is non-existent. The minimum connection at the time was 25mbps.
But that trial run all came to a close in January, 2019. Since then, we’ve been left wondering what Google might do next.
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Over the last month, however, we finally received some answers. Reports stated that Google was prepping a reveal for GDC, and just last week the company released a nondescript trailer teasing some stereotypical videogame locations with the text: “03 19 19” and “gather around.”
Google also filed a patent application for a game controller. It’s your relatively standard fare: wireless, two-handed, dual thumbsticks, D-pad… and there’s not a huge amount separating this from any one of the best gaming controllers out there. It would, however, work like a universal remote, interacting with various devices from TVs to PCs.
There are currently 10,000 gamers (and counting) waiting for the live stream’s 5:00PM GMT / 10am PDT commencement. If you’re not one of them, you can watch the livestream below:
And if you want to stay up-to-date with everything Google gaming, you can sign up for the company’s newsletter.
Google isn’t the only company taking streaming to the next level. Nvidia operates a similar service with GeForce Now, and you can even rent an entire virtual gaming PC, desktop and all, from Blade via its Shadow streaming service. Microsoft, too, has big aspirations for Xbox streaming via the cloud.
And while all these services move PC hardware away from the consumer and into datacenters scattered across the globe, semi-custom graphics giant AMD has been gaining business left and right, with many services – including Google and Microsoft – adopting its graphics silicon to power their experiences. It’s currently 6% up ahead of today’s GDC announcement.