Google Stadia had something of a rough launch earlier this week, between less-than-stellar reviews and a slow-going rollout of invite codes to Founders. The latter issue is now behind us, with Google announcing that all Stadia Founder’s Edition invite codes have been sent, along with the shipping dates for the Premiere Edition.
Without a doubt, from our time testing and playing with it, Google Stadia works, but one of its biggest problems right now is a lack of players. This was exacerbated on Day 1 with issues that prevented many Stadia Founders from receiving their invite codes in the promised order, which were thankfully resolved.
As of this evening, Google has announced that everyone who has pre-ordered the Stadia Founder’s Edition — and has been charged for their purchase — should have now received their invite code. Our own Ryan Kovatch receiving his code tonight is anecdotal evidence of this being true, as he was among the last to pre-order before the Founder’s Edition sold out in the United States.
https://twitter.com/GoogleStadia/status/1197688445700722688?s=09
The next phase of the Google Stadia rollout is to begin shipment of the Premiere Edition bundles “early next week.” Presumably, the rollout of invite codes to Premiere pre-orderers will occur the same way that Founder’s Edition did, with codes going out in order of when your pre-order was placed, once you’ve been charged.
That said, the sense of urgency behind getting your invite code for Premiere Edition is significantly reduced by comparison to the Founder’s Edition rollout, as this second wave of Stadia members will not be able to register unique names like Founders did.
Most likely, this pattern of giving a new batch of users access every week will continue with Buddy Passes becoming available on the following week. This would line up with the initial explanation that Buddy Passes would begin to become available two weeks after the launch of Google Stadia.
If you’re a Founder’s Edition purchaser and have not yet received your invite code, be sure to contact Google Store support, and let us know in the comments below.
More on Google Stadia:
- Alphabet Scoop 077: Stadia launch, gameplay, and Founder’s Edition
- Google Stadia first impressions: It works!
- PSA: You won’t lose your Stadia Pro discounted purchases when you unsubscribe
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