83% of gamers potentially interested in streaming services
But 20% of people surveyed have broadband that would struggle to meet Stadia's minimum requirements
A new study has found that a majority of gamers are interested in using streaming services like Stadia or Xbox's Project xCloud -- but some will be unable to use them.
The news comes from a study conducted by Broadband Genie and our sister site Eurogamer, which found 83% of 3,142 people were keen on playing games via streaming.
Of these Eurogamer readers, only 21% were "absolutely" interested, while another 17% would "probably" use such a service. A further 17% expressed no interest, leaving 45% potentially interested depending on a number of factors.
Looking into those factors, the most common (71%) was concern that performance or visual quality might be compromised by the reliance on a solid internet connection. 34% said they prefer a tangible product, while 26% doubted their broadband would be able to handle such a service.
Just shy of half the people surveyed reported they were on fibre optic connections, with a further 22% specifically on Virgin Media fibre. However, 20% of people were still on ADSL broadband, with a further 2% reliant on 4G.
Google has previously said players will be best served on Stadia with a 35 Mbps connection, which will deliver 4K streaming at 60 frames per second. The minimum requirement is 10 Mbps for 1080p resolution, with Google warning this will be scaled down to 720p on slower connections.
ADSL broadband averages at around 10 MBps, although they can often fall below this, depending on how many devices and users are using yur connection at the time. This means players would be unable to experience Stadia as its minimum setting unless they upgrade to fibre optic.
2,138 of the respondents also took part in a speed test, which shows the majority (71%) were running speeds of 35 Mbps or more. A further 12% reported speeds of 20 to 35 Mbps, putting them comfortably in the realm of 1080p streaming, while 10% were at the lower end of 10 to 20 Mbps.
Only 7% reported speeds lower than 10 Mbps, meaning they would be unable to experience Stadia smoothly.
Our North American editor Brendan Sinclair debated the availability of Stadia's required internet speeds earlier this week, including the drain on mobile data for streaming away from home.