Google’s Stadia platform is still relatively new to the scene, and being a new gaming commodity entirely, it still struggles to get recognized in places where other established platforms are. This past week, the Stadia fanbase rallied behind an effort to have more games rated on Metacritic, a show of the platform’s strong community.
Stadia Changelog is a weekly series on 9to5Google where we round up some of the Stadia news that we wouldn’t otherwise be able to talk about. This includes a roundup of which new games were released on Stadia during the week, which games saw updates and patches, new games either confirmed or speculated for the platform, and more. Come back every Friday, and don’t forget to check out Bandwidth, our weekly look at the rest of the cloud gaming world, including GeForce Now, Luna, and more.
New games on Stadia
The kids are having fun this week as Stadia has added a bunch of new family-friendly games. These include games based on the Paw Patrol and Dragons franchises, among others, and one is even available free to Stadia Pro members.
Beyond family games, another Stadia Makers title hit the store this week in FORECLOSED, which is currently discounted to $16.
- FORECLOSED
- DreamWorks Dragons: Dawn of New Riders
- Ice Age: Scrat’s Nutty Adventure
- Gigantosaurus The Game
- Paw Patrol The Movie: Adventure City Calls
- Paw Patrol Mighty Pups Save Adventure Bay — Free on Pro
This marks one of the biggest weeks for new additions on Stadia in 2021 so far, with six new games. As of this week, Google has added 65 games to Stadia in calendar year 2021 on its way to the promise of at least 100 titles added this year.
Games coming to Stadia
While no new games were spotted in ratings or announced by Google, there was one major reveal this week. A report revealed that Rockstar is working on a remastered version of some older Grand Theft Auto games and plan to launch the titles on Stadia. We’ve got more details here.
Updates
Stadia adding ‘direct touch’ support
Just today, we officially revealed that Google is bringing support for touchscreen games to Stadia, starting with the upcoming release Humankind. You can learn more here.
Stadia fans rally behind Metacritic scores
The Stadia community is pretty well known for having fervent support for the platform and its games, and this week many stepped up to give the platform a bit of a boost. A post on Reddit that resonated with some in the Stadia community called for users to leave honest reviews of Stadia games on Metacritic. Before this week, very few Stadia games had actually received scores on the popular game review platform, but now, many more do.
In fact, in just 48 hours, over 3,900 ratings and over 1,000 reviews had been left for Stadia games on Metacritic, as Google’s official account tweeted. You can view many of the rated games here. 100% of games on Stadia now have a user score.
Rainbow Six Siege is free this weekend
Fresh off of its debut just recently, Ubisoft’s Rainbow Six Siege is free to play on Google Stadia this weekend from August 13 at 8 a.m. PT through August 16 at 4 a.m. PT. Google also organized a streaming event with some Stadia creators that took place earlier today.
‘Explore’ tab is rolling out
In the Stadia app, Google’s previously announced “Explore” tab is now rolling out to some users. The new UI allows users to see screenshots and clips from friends.
Google’s new Pro payments seem to be working out
In an interview with StadiaSource this week, the developers behind Akupara Games and the just-released GRIME title addressed a question about how they were getting paid through Stadia Pro, something many were recently concerned about. While specifics weren’t provided, the developers said they are “very happy” with how another title, The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark, was performing on Pro.
We are in a unique position to answer this question since The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark was one of the first titles to launch into the new Stadia Pro structure, just a month before GRIME. I will say we are so far very happy with how that title is performing, and we expect to be with GRIME as well.
Life is Strange: Remastered delayed to 2022
Square Enix announced this week that it would delay the remastered collection of Life is Strange games until early next year. Originally, the games were set to be released on Stadia and other platforms in the next couple of months. The latest installment in the series, Life is Strange: True Colors, is still releasing on September 10.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Siege of Paris
Fans of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla can now play the game’s second major expansion, Siege of Paris, on Google Stadia. The expansion was released on August 12 and is free for players who purchased the Gold or Ultimate versions of the game or who have it through Ubisoft+.
Journey to the Savage Planet lives on
After its future was in question following the closure of Stadia Games & Entertainment, the original developers of Journey to the Savage Planet announced this week a new studio formed from previous Typhoon Studios staff. The team has also reacquired the IP to Journey to the Savage Planet game, leaving the door open to a sequel.
EA says it’s not done with Jedi: Fallen Order
In a recent call, EA confirmed that it plans to expand on the franchise it kicked off with Jedi: Fallen Order, saying, “[EA] Will continue to invest in the Jedi Fallen Order franchise.” It certainly seems like a sequel is in order.
This week’s biggest Stadia news
- Stadia adding ‘direct touch’ controls on Android starting with HUMANKIND
- Grand Theft Auto remastered trilogy reportedly coming to Stadia
- Stadia for Android TV scores 100K downloads in less than two months
- Journey to the Savage Planet IP return to dev’s new studio following Stadia G&E closure
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