It appears that Google’s Stadia game streaming service is set to have its hardware powered by AMD’s Vega GPU architecture, more specifically the first-generation version of it. With this being the case it means that Stadia’s graphics won’t be powered by bleeding edge hardware technologies, which can be a favorite choice for some consumers putting together the most powerful of high-end gaming PCs.
Instead, if Stadia is being powered by the first-generation Vega GPU architecture it means that Google has chosen to drive the graphics behind its new game streaming platform with hardware that’s been on the market a little bit longer and has already done its part to showcase that its capable of handling even the most recent and demanding games on the market.
Google’s decision to go with a GPU architecture from AMD also means it won’t be powered by NVIDIA hardware like the two most comparable services to Stadia, GeForce Now and Shadow, both of which are powered by high-end dedicated NVIDIA graphics.
Like those two services though, Stadia will continue to evolve and as newer hardware is released, Google will keep things current and update the GPU architecture as necessary. One thing to also pay attention to is the matter of price.
Not just for AMD in regards to what the hardware is costing Google, but also for Stadia as the price of what AMD is charging Google for the first-generation Vega tech is quite likely to translate over into Google’s decision on what Stadia should cost the consumer.
Price is something that Google has yet to talk about when it comes to what Stadia will cost every month for those who will wish to subscribe to it. With that said AMD hardware is typically less expensive when compared to similar tech from NVIDIA, and this could help Google keep the price of Stadia less expensive in return, and therefore competitive with similar services.
For comparison, Shadow is about $35 a month ($34.95 to be exact) if you pay monthly and about $25 a month ($24.95 exactly) if you buy an annual subscription, whereas GeForce Now doesn’t yet have any available pricing as it’s still in beta and is currently free, though it is expected to have a cost associated with how much time (in hours) is spent playing games as opposed to one flat monthly fee.
Knowing this Google may have chosen AMD in an effort to make sure it can keep any service costs to the consumer lower so it has a leg up on the competition. If this is the case, then it may be great news for gamers who are keeping an eye on Stadia as an option for their gaming habits when weighing out all of the available services.
It’s also potentially great news for AMD if Stadia turns out to be a hit as it would likely mean continued business from Google for any future upkeep when hardware needs to be updated down the road, and those looking to build their own PC in the future may view any successes for AMD with Google and Stadia as reasons to consider AMD over NVIDIA.