AT&T again signaled its interest in cloud gaming, and cloud computing in general, by offering a Batman game for free to its customers using Google's Stadia infrastructure.

Mike Dano, Editorial Director, 5G & Mobile Strategies

October 22, 2021

3 Min Read
AT&T uses Google Stadia to stream Batman game for free

In another minor but interesting step along the cloud gaming road, AT&T is offering its customers free access to the Batman: Arkham Knight video game.

The operator is doing so through a white-label version of Google's Stadia cloud gaming service. However, the operator confirmed to The Verge that the offering will only be available for "a limited time," and that it will only work on PCs and not smartphones.

"For this demo AT&T created a front end experience to enable gamers to play Batman Arkham Knight directly from their own website and the game is playable on virtually any computer or laptop," AT&T told the publication.

Figure 1: AT&T said its customers can play a Batman video game for free. AT&T's WarnerMedia division owns the Batman character. Click here for a larger version of this image. (Source: AT&T) AT&T said its customers can play a Batman video game for free. AT&T's WarnerMedia division owns the Batman character. Click here for a larger version of this image.
(Source: AT&T)

AT&T didn't provide any further details, but suggested its offering may open the door for other companies to also offer their own white-label Stadia games. Importantly, AT&T warned players that "depending on your settings, streaming this game may use 12.6 GB/hour of Internet data."

For now, it appears AT&T's Batman offering is similar to T-Mobile's new eSIM-powered "test drive" service. Meaning, it's available to customers, but it's not something that AT&T is putting much emphasis on.

Games over the network, from the cloud

Nonetheless, it again underscores telecom providers' general interest in cloud gaming services, as well as the deepening intersection between the world of Internet service providers and cloud computing companies.

First, AT&T is no stranger to Google Stadia, the cloud gaming service Google first launched in 2019. Indeed, earlier this year AT&T announced it would offer its customers a free, six-month subscription to Stadia Pro.

But AT&T isn't the only telecom provider to dip into the cloud gaming industry. Deutsche Telekom in Germany last year launched a cloud-based video game streaming service called MagentaGaming that leverages edge computing technology, and can work on the operator's 5G network.

And, according to The Verge, Verizon in 2019 tested a Verizon Gaming-branded game-streaming service on the Nvidia Shield set-top box.

More recently, Verizon announced it would offer three months of free Google Stadia service to its customers.

But, as noted by The Verge, Google itself has taken a step back from Stadia. The company is no longer creating games for the service, and will instead rely on third parties to do so. Google also has not upgraded the computing horsepower running Stadia. Meanwhile, other companies including xBox provider Microsoft are investing into cloud gaming.

More broadly though, AT&T's embrace of Stadia points to further pairings between telecom network operators like AT&T and cloud computing companies like Google.

Google, for its part, has been working with AT&T and others to host a growing number of 5G network software functions in its cloud. The company has even created a division around the business: Anthos for Telecom.

And AT&T is among a growing number of telecom network operators leaning into that area. For example, AT&T recently announced it will transition its 5G network operations into Microsoft's cloud over the next three years.

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Mike Dano, Editorial Director, 5G & Mobile Strategies, Light Reading | @mikeddano

About the Author(s)

Mike Dano

Editorial Director, 5G & Mobile Strategies, Light Reading

Mike Dano is Light Reading's Editorial Director, 5G & Mobile Strategies. Mike can be reached at [email protected], @mikeddano or on LinkedIn.

Based in Denver, Mike has covered the wireless industry as a journalist for almost two decades, first at RCR Wireless News and then at FierceWireless and recalls once writing a story about the transition from black and white to color screens on cell phones.

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