Google Stadia: Everything you need to know

One of the biggest problems that Google Stadia continues to face is new releases, with many games not being confirmed ahead of time for the platform or even released later. That won’t be the case, though, for EA’s ultra-popular FIFA series, as FIFA 22 has just been confirmed to be a day-and-date release on Google Stadia.

Owners of the Chromecast with Google TV have begun to see recommendations for Stadia games on the “For you” tab, suggesting deeper integration between the gaming service and Google’s streaming box.

Google’s Stadia platform added two new games this week along with a handful of updates, and this weekend, you can play some games for free, including The Crew 2 and Dead by Daylight.

Google Stadia took its sweet time expanding beyond just the Chromecast Ultra for those who wanted to use their cloud gaming platform on their TVs, but the good news is that the time has finally come. Stadia is now available not just on Chromecast with Google TV, but virtually all Android TV devices. The question begs to be answered, though – does it matter what hardware you’re using?

As we enter the month of July, Google Stadia is looking at some big releases around the corner, but this week, two new games arrive alongside a “Stadia Megasale” that offers massive discounts on a select few titles.

With E3 in the rearview mirror, Google is adding four games to Stadia Pro for July 2021 in a continuation from the previous month. The first three titles have already launched, but Moonlighter will debut with the subscription.

Ubisoft+ is now offering deep Stadia integration in many more countries, and in support of the subscription, Rainbow Six: Siege and more are coming soon to Stadia.

Update 6/30: Rainbow Six: Siege has now formally launched for Stadia.

The latest update to Stadia for Android points to a promo for YouTube Premium members and includes more work toward using your phone as a controller for Stadia on your TV.

The Stadia content schedule is picking back up this week, with Hello Engineer arriving as a First on Stadia title. Borderlands 3 also got a free update this week, adding cross-play for every platform but PlayStation.

Since the launch of the Chromecast with Google TV back in October, it’s been downright bizarre that Stadia, Google’s premier game streaming service, was not available on the company’s newest streaming hardware. Instead, to (officially) play on TV, players were forced to purchase a Chromecast Ultra and Stadia Controller.

Google has now launched a proper “Stadia for Android TV” app into the Play Store, and we’ve spent a few hours playing with it and learning its ins and outs.

You can now download and install the Stadia for Android TV app from the Google Play Store, but we still have some waiting to do.

Update: As of this morning, the app has fully launched, allowing you to get your game on from any Android TV or Google TV device.

Yesterday, Google launched a new app in preparation for Stadia to be available on Android TV and Google TV devices. We’ve found that the new Android TV app is designed completely differently from how Stadia for Android works.

Google is set to officially launch the Stadia for Android TV/Google TV experience on Wednesday, but a trick has been discovered to get playing today.

Ahead of the 2021 Google for Games Dev Summit next month, the company shared the two-day agenda split across four tracks. Besides Android 12, Play, Ads, Firebase, Chrome, YouTube, and Cloud news, Google will be talking about developing for Stadia.

E3 should have been a busy week for Google Stadia, but it didn’t result in much. However, there was one bright spot for this platform. This week, it was confirmed that EA’s Madden NFL 22 will arrive day-and-date on Google Stadia.

Google Stadia is preparing a new way to sign in to your profile when playing games on the same screen as someone else, aka “couch co-op.”

Google Stadia is gaining a new way to play from Android. Instead of using the native Flutter-based app, you can play Stadia from a lightweight Progressive Web App.