Google Stadia: Everything you need to know

This holiday, many may be receiving the gift of Google Stadia, or specifically a Stadia Premiere Edition bundle. For those just getting started with cloud game streaming, here are our recommendations for the best starter games on Google Stadia.

As 2020 comes to a close, Stadia is continuing toward its promise of 135 games on the platform before the end of the year. Three more games, including Enter the Gungeon, have been announced to be arriving on Stadia later this month.

After we spotted the option earlier this year, Google is now offering a trial to Stadia Pro that’s absolutely and completely free of charge, going to the point of not even requiring a payment method up front.

The penultimate week of 2020 has seen the end of Google’s apparently very successful Cyberpunk 2077 promotion, the arrival of Ubisoft+, 3 new games, and plenty of updates. Plus, the hit Risk of Rain 2 announced coming expansion packs.

Since launch, folks have realized that Google Stadia is one of the easier and more consistent ways to play Cyberpunk 2077. However, not everything is perfect in Stadia’s version of Cyberpunk, as some players are finding themselves unable to play Cyberpunk 2077 in 4K, only 1080p.

Stadia’s first year saw a lot of changes, but Google continues to have a lot of hurdles to overcome in the gaming market. As the year comes to a close, Google’s Head of Product for Stadia, John Justice, was interviewed about the state of the platform and future plans where he revealed quite a few interesting tidbits, including talking about how Stadia won’t overpromise with its announcements.

One of the bigger changes in the gaming world for 2020 was the rise of cloud gaming services like Google Stadia, GeForce Now, Xbox Game Pass, and Amazon Luna. Here are some fantastic controllers and accessories to upgrade your personal kit or to give to the Stadia or cloud gamer in your life.

Because of some App Store politics being played by Apple, Stadia is now available on iOS, but not in the traditional format of an “app” that we’re all pretty much used to.

After confirmation came just a few weeks ago, Google Stadia is now fully playable on iOS devices including the iPhone and iPad, courtesy of a Safari web app or Progressive Web App.

It finally happened. Over a year since the platform’s debut, Google Stadia is experiencing its first major outage that is taking out gameplay for many users around the globe.

Over the past several weeks, Google has been rolling out update after update for Stadia, and now, it looks like the company is preparing a UI revamp. Some users are seeing a new web UI for Stadia that includes a bunch of welcome improvements.

Back in October, Google and Ubisoft announced that Ubisoft+ — at the time called Uplay+ — would be gaining support for Stadia, making the company’s library of games available to play on Stadia for $15/month. Starting today, Ubisoft+ is becoming available for Google’s players to enjoy.

Stadia is one of the best places to play the massive new game Cyberpunk 2077 thanks to performance, but also because you can essentially get a free console with the game thanks to a free Premiere Edition bundle. Unfortunately, though, that promotion is ending a few days early.