Hitman 3 introduces a brand new feature for Stadia users this week. The long-promised State Share feature will allow Hitman 3 players to share their custom game states as easily as taking a screenshot. While the Hitman 3 version of State Share is very much a proof of concept for Stadia players, State Share could very well end up being yet another major differentiator for Google’s streaming service. If developers are willing to invest the time and resources into State Share, there are a lot of players that could really benefit from this feature.
Here’s how it works: When you take a screenshot in a game that supports State Share, that screenshot contains information that other players can use to recreate the image’s game state. In the case of Hitman 3, I can take a screenshot of my game and send it to you, State Share will turn that screenshot into a link, then you can open that link and start the same mission I’m playing on the same difficulty with the same loadout and starting point. Now you can play through the mission under the exact same conditions as me. Even if you haven’t unlocked the weapons and equipment used in the State Share, you can still access the “state” exactly as it has been shared.
The way Hitman 3 implements State Share is relatively basic, but it’s the first step in what could end up being a powerful social feature for other games. Hitman 3 will only let you start a fresh mission using someone else’s play state, but imagine if you could start halfway in where someone has gotten Agent 47 into a tricky situation that will be difficult to escape from undetected. That sort of thing is definitely on the table with State Share. Not only would it add replayability, but it would also give players the opportunity to create their own unique challenges.
Speedrunners could also benefit a lot from State Share. In the speedrunning community, developing time-saving strategies is a collaborative effort. When a speedrunner discovers a new technique like an out-of-bounds or level skip, they could State Share their game with the conditions necessary to replicate the technique and share it with other speedrunners. Imagine a collection of links to every important strat that runners could reference and use to learn and practice speedrunning a particular game. State Share has the potential to accelerate speedrunning tech immensely.
Of course, State Share also has a ton of potential for content creators. When PewDiePie uploads a new Minecraft video, his viewers could click the Stadia link (if Minecraft was on Stadia) in the description and instantly start playing the same exact same seed, for example. Streamers and YouTubers can create unique challenges and provide their State Shares as a way to engage with their audience.
The obvious limitation of State Share is the need to own the game on Stadia. If you subscribe to Stadia Pro you can access all of the Hitman 1 and Hitman 2 maps and try out State Share. If you want to play a Hitman 3 State Share, you’ll have to own Hitman 3 on Stadia and deal with all the limitations (and benefits) of cloud gaming.
It’s up to each developer how they choose to implement State Share in their games. While it may seem to be a relatively low impact on development time and resources compared to something like the PlayStation 5’s Activities, adding this feature for Stadia users is a cost nonetheless. It’s a bit of a Catch-22: cool features may attract players, but the platform needs players to justify spending time on cool features. A big free-to-play that uses State Share effectively could work wonders for Stadia, but that’s easier said than done. I’m excited to see where State Share goes from here - it’s just a matter of whether developers see its value.
