Google may show off its own games console at GDC 2019

Google may reveal its rumored gaming streaming platform, believed to be codenamed Yeti, at the 2019 Game Developer Conference (GDC) in San Francisco. 9to5Google, citing a source familiar with the matter, broke the news Wednesday after Google announced a keynote talk at GDC on Tuesday.

Rumors starting circulating earlier in February last year that Google was working on the project, but little is known about it. It’s tipped to comprise Google’s Project Stream technology — which it has already revealed — with a hardware component that could take the streaming tech to the living room.

Google showed off Project Stream late last year through to this January. With a 25 Mbps minimum internet connection, gamers on Windows, Linux, Mac, and Chrome OS could play an Assains Creed Odyssey demo via the Chrome browser.

The hardware could eliminate the computer browser requirement to push the service to TVs. This was previously expected to be little more than a Chromecast, but now speculation suggests it would be more like a home console, complete with support for Google-made controller. It will supposedly include “in-game chat” capabilities, but we don’t know if this would be voice or text.

The holy trinity of streaming?

Numerous game streaming services have been attempted in recent years but none have proven successful. Though there are ongoing projects from Nvidia and Microsoft, Google might produce the first great solution.

The market need is there. Physical hardware — like speedy processors and powerful graphics cards — is expensive and needs frequently upgraded to support the latest games. This worry could be potentially side-stepped if Google offered a subscription service.

Meanwhile, streaming services like Spotify and Netflix are thriving in their respective fields of music and video, adding serious weight to media streaming’s commercial viability.

With Yeti (or whatever its official name will be), is Google planning the service that would complete the holy trinity of media streaming services? We’ll have to wait on see.

GDC starts March 18 this year and Google’s keynote is penned for March 19. What do you think of Google’s prospects in this area? Let me know in the comments.