Google Stadia: 7 Reasons It's The Future Of Gaming (And 4 Reasons It's Not)

Reasons It's Not The Future...

4. Game Ownership Becomes A Thing Of The Past

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One of the biggest issues with Stadia, of course, is that it could lead to a future where players don't actually own the games they play. The joy of picking up a title and physically (or digitally) having it to keep has endured even as the entire world moves to streaming services like Spotify and Netflix, but that raises a few issues when it comes to video games.

For one, Microsoft already pissed people off back in 2013 when they considered tinkering with their licensing agreements so that, despite paying full price, players didn't really own the titles they were picking up.

Stadia will circumvent that by (presumably) not asking for as much money, but in an era where so many video games already get lost thanks to servers being switched off or copies going out of print, a focus on streaming could only exacerbate matters. The industry is moving into an increasingly digital zone, and that only puts more power - and more restrictions - in the hands of publishers.

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Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.