The idea of unlimited streaming sounds tempting to most consumers. With large companies like Netflix and Hulu offering tons of media content all directly to your smart devices, the world is rushing into this new technology era. So when Google announced its gaming platform Stadia at an event in San Francisco during the Game Developers Conference, it marked the beginning of a new period in the gaming industry.

Former Sony and Xbox executive and current Google gaming boss, Phil Harrison, shared that the platform aims to run via streaming; no console or PC, no games downloaded or running on a disc at the users’ end. A world where everyone can play games. It boasts and promises to run 4K and 60 frames per second, streamed across Google’s network, all directly to any smart device.

It’s important to note that Harrison and his presenters did not say how fast users’ internet speeds would need to be to achieve its high-quality performance. Harrison also missed Australia in the list of countries where Stadia is available later this year. You’ve probably guessed why – Australia currently can’t handle an ambitious platform like Google’s Stadia.

Australians complain about their internet all the time. In my previous Wi-Fi plan, I was on an ADSL2+ connection receiving consistent lags and disconnections every 15-20 minutes. A simple game of Hearthstone was useless because I kept disconnecting. Watching the rope burn as I frantically disconnect-connect my Wi-Fi in time was excruciating. My internet was so rubbish; I ended my contract. Since then, I’ve been using my mobile 4G data because it offers more stability. From unlimited, useless data to 45GB/month on 2.12 Mbps download.

Speed test results on my mobile 4G data – I promise you, this is more stable than what my Wi-Fi was.

I wouldn’t be surprised if my fellow Australians offered the same complaints. Australia is currently 58th in the world for internet connection speed, with an average of 30.53 Mbps as of May 2018. Countries like Iceland, Romania and Macau, have better internet speeds than the land down under.

Stadia‘s goal requires a stable internet connection, with no buffering interruptions. These types of services are always dependent on a household’s internet speed and capability. When Google did the Assassin’s Creed Odyssey test for Project Stream last year, it recommended that users had a stable connection of at least 25 Mbps to play the game. Even so, people still reported latency issues, even on stable internet connection. In an interview with Kotaku Splitscreen, Harrison said more about Stadia‘s resolution,

“…if you have less bandwidth, we’ll give you a lower resolution… We do a lot of that for you in the background, and we will only offer up the appropriate bandwidth for the infrastructure that you have.”

That sounds slightly promising. However, at the current state of Australia’s internet speeds, Stadia is looking pretty bleak.

https://twitter.com/Luceobrien/status/1108066238360518656

For starters, Australia’s internet landscape is a bit of a mess. Australia’s National Broadband Network, also known as NBN, has slowly rolled out across the country aimed at improving our poor internet speeds. Initially, the Australian government promised the project would be complete by 2017, delivering high-speed FTTP technology to 93 per cent of homes and businesses across the nation.

But delays ensued, and the opposition pledged to deliver a faster network at a cheaper cost. However, that meant using copper cables already in place and ditching FTTP. Now, around 71 per cent of Australians retains their copper wiring. It’s 2019, and this compromised NBN version is still not even close to finished. In my residential address, the NBN won’t be available from July to September 2019, and that’s assuming no further work is required before the connection is ready. And if the current state has any indication, I’m erring on the latter side of things.

#Fraudband is a great way to describe the #NBN. I was shocked back in Australia this year to see how slow the Internet was, compared to Europe. Literally dial-up speed. Impossible to send even the most basic attachment with an email. Disgraceful. https://t.co/iWViOD1wtE

— samxdavies (@SamxDavies) March 19, 2019

So, what does this mean for cloud streaming platforms like Stadia? Even Microsoft’s Project xCloud is looking to be in turmoil on Australian soil, all for the same reasons.

The good news is that things are improving (somehow). Our speeds are getting faster each year as more people transition from ADSL connections. Hitting the 100 Mbps mark is doable if you’re one of the lucky few. The bad news is that the 100 Mbps mark is the bare minimum to be considered one of the fastest-connected countries in the world. As a nation, we have a lot of catching up to do on the digital scale.

However, Google and Microsoft both have investments in Australia’s internet infrastructure. For example, Google launched its cloud platform (GCP) in Sydney back in 2017 and has the green light from the government to store data and workloads on Google’s servers. Google Australia made mention regarding Stadia,

“We will be rolling it out to other countries and territories as soon as we can.”

If that’s so, Google cannot ignore the state of Australia’s internet speeds if they have any wish of establishing Stadia.

There’s plenty of unanswered questions that everyone is asking after Google’s announcement of Stadia. If Google is looking to launch its streaming platform in Australia, what’s their plan? Will Stadia stream at lower resolutions? Most Australians tend to stream at 720p, so 4K sounds incredibly daunting. The reality remains: if you’re not getting consistently reliable download speeds, can you imagine what streaming DOOM Eternal or Red Dead Redemption 2 to your phone would look like?

I’m genuinely excited at the future of gaming, and how the titans – Google, Amazon, Apple – are going to shake things up in the gaming industry. But sadly, I don’t think Stadia is going to be part of my gaming future any time soon.