Google Stadia has a chance to turn some heads in the gaming world. Since its formal announcement at the 2019 Game developers Conference in March 2019, Google has its eyes on providing the launchpad for gaming's future as a streaming service and it will be available in a little more than a month from now. On November 19th, Stadia will be offered to Pro Tier users and those who pre-ordered the Founder's Edition (which includes three months of Stadia Pro and access to Destiny 2 for no extra charge).

Stadia will have an interesting hurdle to climb. The prospects of it sound very promising, and reports of hands-on experiences with it can range from positive to mixed, and that varies from game to game. One of the questions is the fluidity of Stadia's access. Efficient internet isn't immediately available to everybody, especially if Stadia's 4K gaming is something that's appealing. Fortunately for that, technology is rapidly improving, so early graphical fidelity and performance issues may not hinder Stadia. 

The rollout is currently set for 14 countries: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, the U.K., and of course the United States, with a broader release in more countries set for 2020. It will also have a plethora of games to choose from:

• Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
• Attack on Titan 2
• Baldur’s Gate 3
• Borderlands 3
• Cyberpunk 2077
• Darksiders Genesis
• Destiny 2
• Destroy All Humans
• DOOM
• DOOM Eternal
• Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2
• Farming Simulator 19
• Final Fantasy XV
• Football Manager 2020
• Get Packed
• Grid
• Gylt
• Just Dance 2020
• Kine
• Marvel’s Avengers
• Metro Exodus
• Mortal Kombat 11
• NBA 2K
• Orcs Must Die 3
• Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid
• Rage 2
• Samurai Shodown
• Superhot
• The Crew 2
• The Elder Scrolls Online
• Thumper
• Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint
• The Division 2
• Tomb Raider
• Rise of the Tomb Raider
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider
• Trials Rising
• Watch Dogs Legion
• Wolfenstein Youngblood

How Stadia will take to the gaming populace will be fascinating to see. For at least a decade, third party companies like UbiSoft have speculated about the prospects of console and platform free game distribution. Google Stadia can tap into the market of gaming almost anywhere in a relative sense, the Nintendo Switch's success has tapped into that and it's outpacing the PlayStation 4 in sales. The question I pose is will Google Stadia launch that success of game streaming? Or will it fall on the sword of early adapter mistakes for other companies to learn from, very much like what the Nokia N-Gage for mobile gaming. Time will indeed tell.