Google’s gaming aspirations have to date been fairly limited, but that’s about to change with a new report saying that a game streaming service, codenamed: Yeti, could be on the way.
The report is from Paywalled site The Information, which says that the service would be subscription based and playable either on a new Google console, or on Chromecast. Games on the service would be streamed rather than downloaded, possibly similar to the idea of Google’s Instant Apps for Android.
According to the report, the project is two years old and is being headed up by two Google hardware executives — Mario Queiroz, VP of product management, who has been instrumental in the Made by Google hardware push and Majd Bakar, VP of engineering.
The sources are, as usual, people with knowledge of the project, and also in line with previous leaks Google has declined to comment. Whether the service is being worked on and whether it ever actually sees the light of day is another thing.
On the plus side, Google is apparently in discussion with ‘top-tier gaming developers’ so we could see some great games if the service does launch.
Google’s last console like device, the Nexus Player, is now effectively dead so a new Gaming Console, or at least TV connected device would be very welcome. Take it with a grain of salt, but if it is going to come out we’ll likely see it at Google’s now annual Made by Google event in October.
Would you subscribe to a gaming service with games from ‘top-tier gaming developers’?
So Google invests in a streaming gaming device and pushes its ads around to the expense of content. After one year or two, it does not generate the buzz due to lack of good games and they shelve it without regards to the community around. Been there before (Google plus : failure to come, Nexus player, Google reader, Google lens: omg)
This is funny because the other week, after listening to a podcast where they were talking about Google building their own SOC, I wondered: Why don’t Google buy Nvidia? Stay with me on this: * Who is making some of the most interesting non-phone Android devices? Nvidia and the Shield. * What are Nvidia moving into at a rate of knots? AI right? What are Google big into? AI * What sort of Processing Units are good for AI? GPUs right? Who are the leaders in GPUs? Nvidia! Surely there is a lot of synergy in Google buying Nvidia. Probably… Read more »