Google Stadia: Everything you need to know

When the new Chromecast with Google TV launched in late 2020, the product came with the promise that Google Stadia would be supported sometime in the first half of 2021. That deadline is just six weeks away at this point, so the clock is certainly ticking for Google to take action. Let’s take a look at where things stand.

This morning, Ubisoft has announced a variety of new games and expansions coming soon to Stadia and other platforms, including Rainbow Six Siege and For Honor.

Stadia for Android is preparing a new “bridge mode” to use your phone and connected accessories as a controller to play games on your TV.

As the gaming news drought continues, there’s some good news on the Stadia front. This week, Resident Evil Village arrived on Stadia alongside a major Outriders update and more. Here’s what’s new.

Resident Evil Village is coming to Stadia later this year on the same date as other platforms, and Google is giving early purchasers a free Chromecast Ultra and Stadia Controller.

Update: Google is preparing to close this promotion in the US as supplies are running out.

For May 2021, Google is adding three games to Stadia Pro in a slight decrease from last month. All these titles are already available for purchase on the streaming service.

Epic Games launched Fortnite on Android in 2018 without putting the game in Google’s Play Store; you know, that place where it’s safe and easy to get apps on any Android phone. The reason was that Google, like Apple and others, takes a cut of revenue for in-app purchases on apps and games within the Play Store. As it turns out, Epic Games was considering methods of bargaining with Google about the Play Store cut that, apparently, meant Fortnite for Stadia was at one time an actual possibility.

Every month, Stadia Pro offers a diverse selection of games for subscribers to claim for free, which is sure to leave quite a few games unplayed in some players’ libraries. How many unplayed Pro games do you have in your Stadia library?

Google is a sprawling company with 139,995 employees as of the first quarter of 2021. Recent personnel changes have seen new executives lead Assistant, News/Discover, Search, and Payments, while there have also been a handful of high-profile departures. One of those includes Stadia product head John Justice.

Closing out the month of April, Google Stadia had a relatively exciting week with a UI revamp, some notable game updates including the Embr Premium Update, and more, though only one new game arrived on the service.

Mighty is a new browser project that puts Google Chrome in the cloud and streams it to your PC. While I don’t know if Mighty will end up making sense for my personal situation, it does perfectly resemble a product I’ve found myself hoping Google itself would build as a feature in Chrome. How worthwhile is Mighty itself, though? And will (should) Google copy it?

One of the most bizarrely missing features for Stadia is finally launching. Starting today, Stadia for web now offers a proper search bar to find games in the store, as well as a revamped library view, and Google is teasing a few future upgrades.

Last month, Google Stadia co-hosted the “Play Anywhere Game Jam,” and as a result three indie games have been offered the chance to become full Stadia games.

Weeks after the game made its debut day-and-date on Google Stadia, Square Enix is finally acknowledging the many issues with Outriders on Stadia. Along with that news, the highly anticipated game Judgement has arrived along with more game updates.