Besides games, Google’s Stadia roadmap revealed four upcoming platform features slated for Q1 2020. A Stadia Controller update is presumably required to enable that upcoming functionality, with one beginning to roll out.
This update can be manually trigged by reconnecting your Stadia Controller to Wi-Fi. While the first-party accessory is off, hold down the Stadia and ‘Y’ button. As the indicator light blinks orange, visit the Controller menu in Stadia for Android or iOS to “Connect to Wi-Fi.”
You can just re-enter the password for your existing Wi-Fi or connect to a new network. Afterwards, you’ll be brought to an “Updating controller…” screen that you last encountered during the initial set-up process.
This is different from the day one update and only became available in recent days as reconnecting to Wi-Fi previously did not prompt you to download an update. Meanwhile, after the most recent version has been installed, repeating the process does not show new firmware. We successfully updated two devices with this method.
The update process for Stadia Controllers could be smoother than reconnecting to Wi-Fi. It’s possible that there will be a prompt in the Stadia app to update, or it could just occur in the background when it’s more widely available. That said, it’s unsurprising that Google is taking a Chromecast/Home speaker/Smart Display approach to quietly upgrading the Controller without notifying users.
This Stadia Controller update does not yield any immediate changes, with bug fixes being the most likely improvement. It’s possibly also related to support for wireless gameplay and Google Assistant on the web. Stadia.com will require its own refresh for those capabilities as “link a screen” is not yet available online.
Those two features, along with support for 4K gaming in Chrome and additional Android device compatibility, are expected to arrive by March.
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