Stadia return policy, Voice chat, Pro/Base Content capture limits, more detailed before launch

With Stadia launching in less than an hour, Google has published new support documents that should explain all day one capabilities. They detail the return policy, Parties/Voice chat, and how many screenshots or video clips you can capture with Stadia Pro.

Return policy

In addition to credit/debit cards, Stadia games and in-app purchases can be purchased via PayPal and Google Play credit. Google today laid out how you can request a refund within “14 days of your purchase if there is less than 2 hours of play time across all accounts.”

Add-on content (in-game purchases, loot boxes, etc.) cannot be refunded unless it’s defective. The process can be initiated via the Stadia app or site, as well as Customer Support. Play Store credit will be refunded in a business day, while other methods might take 3-5.

Stadia Parties and Voice chats

Parties in Stadia let you “invite players to voice chat and play games together.” It’s accessible from Stadia menu on TVs and online, and coming soon to mobile devices. Meanwhile, there are two types of voice chat. At the moment, you cannot speak in voice chats on mobile, just hear other players.

Games that support game chat will allow you to participate in voice chat with other players in the game space. You can create a party to use party voice chat to talk with friends in the same or different games.

Stadia Content Captures

The Stadia Controller has a dedicated Capture button. A single press takes a screenshot, while holding down for a second captures a clip of the last 30 seconds. On Stadia Pro accounts, you can store up to 500 clips, while the free Stadia Base next year will be limited to 100. Both tiers have unlimited screenshots that are available from the Stadia app under “Captures.”

Google Assistant

While the Assistant button on the Stadia Controller is “coming soon,” Google has detailed its capabilities pre-launch. Like on other devices, you’ll have to enable personal results. Supported queries include:

• What time is it?
• What’s the weather?
• Flip a coin.
• What’s on my schedule tomorrow?
• How’s the traffic to work?

According to Google, “Playing media, like music or videos, is not currently supported when using the Assistant with Stadia.” What’s available today is the ability to use Assistant on phones and Smart Displays to launch a game on your Chromecast Ultra: “OK Google, play Destiny 2 on Livingroom TV.”

Stadia Controller factory reset

Stadia Stream quality

Another pre-launch Stadia detail is what the various connection statuses available from the Stadia menu mean: