Following successful trials for its Project Stream gaming service, Google will be hosting its first Game Developers Conference (GDC) keynote at GDC 2019. The company has been dropping hints on what to expect stating it would reveal its "vision of the future of gaming", it's widely rumoured to be a game streaming service alongside hardware. Big name game developers and publishers will be gracing its event such as Bandai Namco, Id Software, and Ubisoft. Furthermore, the Google has made some high profile hires such as Assassin's Creed producer Jade Raymond and PlayStation VR engineer Richard Marks in addition to ex-PlayStation and Xbox executive Phil Harrison. Here's what you need to know.
The Google GDC 2019 keynote date is March 19 and starts at 10:30pm IST (10am PT). You can watch the live stream here.
The search giant is planning for a serious foray into game streaming, which is currently a nascent market. An early iteration of the service, codenamed Yeti was designed to work with a Chromecast TV steaming stick.
Another report suggests that Google is pushing in three directions: a game streaming service akin to Nvidia's GeForce Now, hardware that will facilitate the streaming platform, and courting game developers.
It will be interesting to see how Google plans to monetise such a service. Considering how the bulk of revenue generated on Google Play is via advertising, the possibility of Yeti being a premium service is intriguing, more so when content moderation and curation hasn't been its biggest strengths in past endeavours.
Thanks to a now deleted tweet from industry insider Liam Robertson, it's quite likely that Google's keynote could see a console launch with a slew of games.
"Sitting here, looking at screenshots of unannounced Google console games and debating whether or not to release them," read the tweet which was archived on popular gaming forum ResetEra. "Don't really want to get copyright claimed to hell."
A patent filed for a game controller by Google reveals what we could expect alongside its anticipated gaming service and console. The design is nothing out of the ordinary sporting dual analog sticks, four buttons and a d-pad along with two shoulder buttons and two triggers. What is interesting however, is the presence of a Google Assistant button which could be used for voice communication.
Some of Google's attendees at its GDC 2019 keynote include the likes of Ubisoft and Id Software. Considering Google has a close working relationship with the former thanks to Assassin's Creed Odyssey being on Project Stream coupled with Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot's admiration for streaming tech makes Ubisoft a likely candidate for launch titles on the device. What's more, Id Software will part of Google's developer day session.
Considering that Id's games like Doom and Quake are designed to play best with no latency, having Id on board at launch would go a long way in building confidence for a cloud game streaming service from Google.
Are you looking forward to Google's announcements? Or are you waiting to see what games are on offer before deciding? Let us know via the comments.
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