Stadia launched State Share along with Hitman 3 last month, making gaming more interactive than ever before. State Share allows gamers and content creators to share a “playable slice” of the games they’re playing for their fellow gamers and viewers to try out for themselves. But of course, not everyone has their hands on Stadia because, aside from low affordability and console preference, it’s very young and not yet as popular as other video game platforms, such as the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X/S.
If Stadia can create a feature that allows players to share playable excerpts of games they’re currently playing on the system, then PlayStation and Xbox should follow their lead and implement the same feature, whatever they wish to call it, into the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, respectively.
When Google introduced Stadia to the gaming world back in 2019, Phil Garrison named it after the Latin plural form of “stadium,” which is a collection of entertainment that allows viewers to sit back and enjoy the show (the game that a streamer is playing) or to partake in it (jump into the game). Stadia lived up to its name by introducing the concept of State Share on its platform, albeit exclusively to PC and mobile gamers. In that spirit, applying State Share to each of their console systems would allow PlayStation and Xbox to compete with Stadia by making the feature available to everyone, whether they own one console or both.
In fact, PlayStation and Xbox already have the infrastructure to make State Share possible, thanks to game streaming services like PlayStation Now (which in my experience doesn’t work well without a stable 5G internet connection) and Xbox Game Pass. The problem with PlayStation Now, for example, is it’s difficult to grab a screenshot of Horizon Zero Dawn, to give an example, to share on Twitter, let alone a screen recording of your gameplay to show your friends how you got out of a tight spot in a certain level without getting a screenshot of the last game you played because licensing agreements protect the game with a thick layer of copyright. PlayStation also has Share Play, which lets you share the screen of Horizon Zero Dawn with your friends for them to watch you play it or play the game themselves for an hour.
If PlayStation puts in State Share, you can not only share the screen but also share the link of the game state you were in the exact moment you took the screenshot to your friends’ PSN profiles, so that they can go through a certain section of the game they’re having trouble with, bearing the same inventory equipment to experience the same in-game moment your way or theirs with no impact on your individual game progress. State Share would work the same way for Xbox, but with more enhanced and dynamic technologies like the Dolby Atmos sound system, if your setup supports that, and a 4K HDR screen. For example, if your friend is playing Cyberpunk 2077 on the Xbox Series X, they’ll share the state of their game to your Xbox Live profile so that you can experience the same in-game moment they were in with an audio and visual setup that may be far different from theirs. Either way, State Share would allow players to experience plenty of gaming moments in a way that a simple screenshot or screen recording posted to social media won’t.
Implementing State Share can also benefit both PlayStation and Xbox by serving as word-of-mouth advertisement of games, should their first-party production studios decide to use it for their games. No one plays game demos at retail stores anymore, so the only way we can try them out is when they’re available to download from the PS Store or Xbox Live as soon as the full games are up for pre-order. However, when full games drop on release day and someone has the money to get them but the other person doesn’t, the person who got the game will share the State Share link of their favorite level with their friend for them to experience it and see if they like it. If they do and manage to get the game themselves, they’ll share their state link with their friends and say something along the lines of, “Hey, try this game out! It’s amazing!” and so on.
Basically, instead of a short demo that we’re used to seeing before the release of the final product, State Share will give players the ability to play extended demos of games they weren’t sure they’ll like but end up loving and purchasing later on. It would be the gift that keeps on giving.
