Google Lied About Stadia Running All Games At 4K 60fps, Reports Claim

Head of Stadia Games and Entertainment Jade Raymond speaks during the annual Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, California on March 19, 2019 AFP / Josh Edelson

Several reports disputed Google's claims about the new Stadia game-streaming service, saying the cloud-based game service doesn't really run all games according to the tech giant's promises.

Google proudly launched Stadia recently, promising that it can run all games at 4K 60fps. The tech giant designed the service so that players will be able to play the best games, at the highest resolution, minus the need for expensive game consoles. What's more, the service is designed so that players can take their games anywhere there's speedy internet.

Reports, however, reveal that Stadia doesn't actually run all games on 4K 60fps, 9To5Google reported. Some titles that run on 4K on consoles and PC, such as “Destiny 2” and “Red Dead Redemption 2 (RDR2),” aren't rendered in 4K on Stadia.

Instead, the games are rendered on a lower resolution (1080p, for example), then upscaled to improve the quality. In other words, Stadia doesn't really run games according to what was promised.

In an interview with The Verge, “Destiny 2” maker Bungie said the Stadia version is different from the 4K version running on other consoles. “Destiny 2” simply doesn't run on 4K on the Stadia, for now at least.

Stadia also fails to surpass, or even equal, how other systems render certain games such as “Shadow of the Tomb Raider.” The Verge noted that even at the highest settings, Stadia can't deliver the same amount of sharp detail and high-res textures a gaming PC with a GeForce GTX 1080, which is supposedly inferior to Stadia's servers, can.

"Google told me that Stadia is designed to run games at the highest resolution with all of the settings turned up, but clearly, that isn’t happening here," The Verge said.

The issue also affects other titles, such as the aforementioned “RDR2.” According to a Twitter user named Pixelbuster, the Rockstar title looks “so bad on Stadia.” And although Stadia is supposedly 80% faster than the Xbox One X, it can only render graphics at 1440p and 30fps, not 4K 60fps.

It won't be surprising if people, especially gamers, turn their back on Stadia. 9To5Google said Google has the capacity to fix these issues. More players will opt for other systems unless the tech giant finds a way to resolve these problems.