New job listings recently posted by Google point towards potential VR streaming for the cloud gaming service.
It’s been a rough year or so for Google Stadia. Originally released back in November of 2019, the cloud gaming service developed by Google failed to capture the initial attention of mainstream consumers due in large part to a lack of exclusive content and continuous connection issues. This past February, the company announced that it would be closing down its internal game development studio Stadia Games and Entertainment to focus entirely on expanding its lineup of third-party games.
Despite these setbacks, however, Google has expressed zero interest in shuttering its cloud gaming platform. Instead, the company has announced plans to expand its lineup of games. According to Google, there are currently 400 titles in development for the Stadia platform. The company is also working alongside developers to help expidite the publishing process.
In addition to the aforementioned plans, it appears as though Google may be interest in bringing VR support to its cloud platform.
First discovered by RoadtoVR, Google earlier this month posted several job listings seeking engineers and developers with experience regarding VR technology. The four positions are as follows:
- Engineering Manager, Client Software Development Kit, Stadia
- Engineering Manager, Front-End, Stadia
- Engineering Manager, Stadia Discovery
- Staff Software Developer, Developer Services, Stadia
Support for VR streaming would no doubt be a game-changer for the platform, offering those without expensive gaming PC’s a chance to play AAA PC VR games on the cheap. With companies such as Microsoft, Nintendo, and Facebook all in development of their own game streaming services, cloud VR gaming could help set Google Stadia apart from the pack.
Of course, it’s important to note that Google isn’t alone in its VR streaming endeavors. NVIDIA has already released its own VR, AR, and MR streaming solution, CloudXR. The service comes packed with numerous NVIDIA exclusives, such as NVIDIA RTX™ hardware, NVIDIA RTX Virtual Workstation (vWS) drivers, and the CloudXR software development kit (SDK). That being said, CloudXR is more of a starting off point for developers rather than a consumer-ready VR streaming platform.
For more information on Google Stadia visit here.
Feature Image Credit: Google
