Google is looking forward to launching its Stadia streaming service in India by 2021. Google’s venture into gaming services in India has already been discussed with possible local partners and has been slated to come to India in two years, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.
Currently, Google Stadia is expected to launch in the U.S, Canada, U.K, and Europe, while other regions are yet to be announced. Google Stadia could mark the first game streaming service to be launched in India.
“We’ve been told that Stadia should be out in two years,” one content firm owner claimed on the condition of anonymity. “Game publishers have expressed interest as well and would be in touch with us too.”
Nevertheless, with that being said, there is quite some skepticism regarding Google’s decision to launch Stadia in India, particularly about the internet speed that it would require.
“PS Now uses about 3GB per hour at 720p,” says one ISP employee who did not want to be named. “At the moment there’s no clear indication on how this would work in India with Google Stadia. Chances are you may use up a month’s worth of FUP [fair usage policy, or data caps as they’re known] with a single stream at 1080p or 4K. We haven’t received information on this yet.”
To overcome this hurdle, Google may partner up directly with ISPs to offer Stadia without any impact on end-user FUP, as some industry insiders claim that this was the way services for PC games from Zapak and Indiagames worked. In an era of net neutrality however, this might not be possible, they speculate.
Adding to that the fact that video games in India traditionally have a lower price which in turn might impact the revenue split and how Google would pay developers per hour could pose a problem.
“We have no information to share at this time as Stadia is not slated for launch in India just yet,” a Google spokesperson said in reply to our request for comment.
Currently, India has game streaming service like Hatch due for a beta test in India along with Microsoft’s plans for using Project xCloud to target non-console owners–of which there is an abundance in the country. Apparently, the launch of Stadia in India too is a question of when and not if.
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