With Google about to enter the gaming market in a big way with the Stadia game streaming service, it’s easy to think that people would be excited. That doesn’t seem to be the case though, as a recent survey indicates that gamers, at least in Europe, aren’t interested in Google Stadia or other game streaming services.
In a recent European survey conducted for GamesIndustry by Ipsos MORI, 70% of respondents in the UK, France, Germany, and Spain stated that they were not interested in a video game streaming service such as Google Stadia or Microsoft xCloud. Of the remaining 30%, only a little over half of them stated that they actually were interested or very interested in such a service. The rest either didn’t know yet, or had already subscribed to an existing service.
More interesting is the breakdown of responses based on the the countries covered by the survey. Of the four countries covered, Germany seem to be the least interested in game streaming services. Specifically, 75% of German gamers surveyed stated that were not interested.
Gamers in the United Kingdom on the other hand were the most interested in Stadia or xCloud. 23% of respondents there actually stated that they were interested, with a further 5% who were “very interested.”
That said, it seems that internet connection isn’t the main reason for the disinterest of these gamers. In fact, 43% of them believed that their current internet is fast enough for streaming. The bigger issue seems to be Europeans preference for buying physical copies of games, as 34% of respondents stated they preferred buying physical games over streaming.
However, there may be a light at the end of the tunnel for these streaming services. A number of respondents, 27% to be precise, did state they would change their mind if the streaming services would allow them to download the games to their hard drives. Of course, whether Stadia or xCloud will allow such an option, one that seemingly defeats the purpose of streaming games, is another question altogether.
