If you want to stream at 4K using Google Stadia and have a data cap, you’re going to want know that Stadia 4K streaming will use 1TB of data in 65 hours. The calculation comes way of PC Gamer, who figured out that if Google provides 60fps 4K streaming with a bitrate of 35Mbps that means it will use 15.75GB of data per hour. If you stream at 1080p 60fps, the bandwidth drops to 20Mbps, so you’d use 9GB per hour. If you’re fine with 720p 60fps, then you’ll only use 4.5GB per hour because the bitrate will only be 10Mbps.
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Of course, almost nobody is going to be streaming at 720p 60fps. Most will stream either at 4K or 1080p. If you’re in the former camp and have a 1TB data cap, you can only game on Stadia for 65 hours a month, assuming you don’t use your Internet for anything else. Meanwhile, if you decide to keep things more simple with 1080p resolution, then you’ll get 113 hours of streaming per month, again assuming no other data is being used. The reality is, we all use the Internet, so both of those numbers will be a bit lower if you don’t want to exceed your cap.
A lot of places in North America have data caps, and often multiple people in a household gaming. So, it seems like Stadia may not be a great option for people who fall into this category, especially Stadia 4K streaming.
Google Stadia is poised to release sometime this November. It will cost $9.99 a month, while a free version with less perks will arrive sometime early 2020. You can find all you need to know about the platform right here. Meanwhile, for more news and media on Stadia, be sure to peep all of our previous coverage of it by clicking right here.
As always, feel free to leave a comment letting us know what you think or hit me up on Twitter @Tyler_Fischer_ and let me know over there. Will you be picking up Stadia when it launches later this year? Do you think Internet caps will ultimately undermine and hold back Google’s new ambitious gaming plans?
