Stadia Holiday Pop-Ups coming to three cities next week

With Stadia just over two weeks old, Google is planning to advertise its new game streaming platform around the world next week. Stadia Holiday Pop-Ups are coming to Los Angeles, London, and Paris.

Announced this afternoon, the brand activations are positioned at prospective customers “wondering what it’s like to play games on Stadia.”

Starting next week, we’re bringing Stadia to select cities… and you’re invited. At the Stadia Holiday Pop-Ups visitors can get Stadia swag, enjoy holiday snacks, mingle with YouTube Creators, and most importantly, play some games with Stadia!

This public opportunity to experience the streaming service comes as Google currently lacks a retail presence for Stadia, even at stores like Best Buy. Meanwhile, the only way to use Stadia is through a $129 Premiere Edition — which must be ordered online — given that the free Stadia Base is not coming until next year.

Google is clearly positioning Stadia for the holidays, while also highlighting YouTube integration with the presence of creators at these three events. During the ramp-up to Stadia’s launch, Google had big booths at gaming conferences with similar demo opportunities.

The first Stadia Holiday Pop-Ups are in London and Los Angeles on Wednesday, December 11. They start at noon local time and span eight hours. Meanwhile, the third and final event is on December 13 in Paris. Full details and locations are below:

• Los Angeles:
  • Hollywood and Highland
  • 6801 Hollywood Blvd
  • December 11
  • 12 p.m. – 8 p.m. PST
• London:
  • BOXPARK, Shoreditch
  • 2-10 Bethnal Green Rd
  • December 11
  • 12 p.m. – 8 p.m. GMT
• Paris:
  • Webedia Millenium
  • 2 rue Paul Vaillant
  • December 13
  • 12 p.m. – 8 p.m. CET

It’s unclear how Google is managing the queue, but people are invited to “just show up at the venues.”

More about Google Stadia:

• First Stadia Pro deals end with no immediate replacements
• Google Assistant is now available on the Stadia Controller
• You can play Google Stadia on almost any Android phone with root