All seems a bit tentative still, but they recently hired Phil Harrison, so perhaps they're taking it seriously.
https://www.theinformation.com/arti...N_5OakUtANfIaWBPUfgXo&unlock=e481e6c2c5f70efb
https://www.theinformation.com/arti...N_5OakUtANfIaWBPUfgXo&unlock=e481e6c2c5f70efb
Google may be about to take its most serious steps to get into the videogame business. The company is developing a subscription-based game streaming service that could work either on Google's Chromecast or possibly a Google-made console still being developed, according to people with knowledge of the project.
The service, codenamed Yeti, would put Google at the forefront of a nascent part of the videogame business, one that lets people play games as they're being streamed, rather than using downloads or disks.
An early iteration of Yeti was designed to work with the Chromecast TV streaming stick, according to a person familiar with the project and another person who was briefed about it. More recently, Google has been testing a hardware gaming console for running the Yeti service, one of the people said. Yeti also includes a hardware controller that's used to play the games, developed by Google's hardware team.
Google has discussed Yeti with top-tier game developers, but it's unclear whether any of them will develop a game specifically for Yeti or only make existing streamed games available.
Whether Google will go ahead with the service remains unclear. The company intended to launch the Yeti service in time for the 2017 holiday season, but it was delayed for reasons that remain unclear.