In the goal of dominating the living room, which is one area of the home that is apparently still up for grabs, a lot of companies see video games as the deciding factor. Google, with Android TV, allows owners to play mobile games on their TV. And the same can be said with Apple, too, with tvOS and the Apple TV officially supporting games, too.
But neither one of those efforts seemed to have paid off, at least not in a major way. On a personal level, I know quite a few people who own an Apple TV, and are more than happy to play titles like Crossy Road on their TV (especially with family members), but when it comes to playing video games still rely on consoles like the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
But it sounds like Google is going to give it another go. The old college try, even.
Earlier today a report surfaced that said Google is planning on launching a video game streaming option, which would work on a subscription basis, to allow customers to stream titles instead of having to buy discs or download titles. It is codenamed Yeti right now. I know folks who still prefer to buy physical media (especially because they might want to trade in a game they don't like/don't play anymore), but I have stuck to downloading games for a few years now.
Streaming games isn't awful, but it can definitely eat up a data cap if your ISP forces one on you. The same can be said if you download a lot of games, of course. PlayStation Now seems to be a pretty popular service for Sony at this point, but there is a huge library to choose from with that service.
There isn't a lot of information on what Google is planning, other than the bare minimum, but I can't help but wonder if this is something people actually want. And not just the streaming games, either, but the fact that the report indicates Google is actually considering launching a console seems almost like a waste of time and effort.
It will come down to content, as it always does. Microsoft and Sony will say the same thing -- there have to be worthwhile games on your console, or on your service, to make people pay into it. Google is apparently talking to game developers now, but there's no word on what Yeti might bring to the table.
As far as I'm concerned, just launching this service with mobile games is not going to be worth anyone's time, and it surely won't be worth Google's. Maybe they are aiming for something bigger here. But can Google honestly disrupt Microsoft and Sony? It will be fun to find out.
What do you think? Do you want a Google-branded video game console, or a video game streaming subscription service in general? Let me know!
