Google Stadia: Everything you need to know

For the month of September, Google is giving Stadia Pro members access to a whopping six new games, including Super Bomberman R Online, a battle royale twist on the classic Bomberman series, and it’s an absolute blast… when there’s people to play with.

September 2020 will see six high-profile games join Stadia Pro next Tuesday. This includes timed- exclusives Super Bomberman R Online and Gunsport, as well as early access title Embr.

For a few months now, we’ve been watching as the Google Stadia app prepares to add messaging capabilities. With the release of Stadia 2.32, Google seems to have put the finishing touches in place for messaging to officially launch, as well as UPlay+, a better recruitment system, and more.

As we approach fall 2020, the gaming release schedule should soon be heating up ahead of the holiday period. August 2020 has seen Stadia prepare to hit the ground running ahead of time, while more games have hit the service too!

One of the most hotly-anticipated games on the horizon is Marvel’s Avengers by Square Enix. For once, this triple-A title is hitting Google Stadia on launch day, but a special early access edition of Avengers will be available a few days early.

During its last Stadia Connect, Google revealed that Konami was bringing Super Bomberman R Online to the platform as an exclusive debut. Now, we’re getting an official release date and pricing for the game.

Google Stadia has had a handful of exclusives since its 2019 launch, but none of them have been super compelling, especially with price barriers in the way. Last month, Orcs Must Die 3 arrived on the platform, and personally, I think it’s perhaps the best reason to sign up for an account. Plus, it had perfect timing now that Stadia is free.

In addition to Rock of Ages 3: Make and Break later next month, August 2020 will see four games for Stadia Pro subscribers on Saturday.

Slowly but surely, Google Stadia has been picking up new features, shaping it into a proper gaming platform. Version 2.29 of the Stadia app for Android has arrived in the Google Play Store, bringing with it signs of pre-ordering games, text messaging, and more.

Google’s Stadia platform has helped start a new form of gaming, streaming from the cloud. In the past year, Stadia, Microsoft xCloud, and Nvidia’s GeForce Now have made a big splash, but they still aren’t available on iOS. Why? Apple has confirmed it won’t allow services like Google Stadia on its platform for iPhone or iPad owners.

A month after launch, Stadia picked up the ability to view game Achievements online and on Chromecast. The streaming service logged awards from day one, but an interface wasn’t ready until December. Stadia Achievements are now rolling out on the Android and iOS apps.

One of the coolest promises of Google Stadia back at GDC 2019 was the ability to easily livestream your gameplay to YouTube Gaming and bring lucky watchers directly into your game. Now eight months after launch, Google is finally testing YouTube live streaming for Stadia alongside exclusive “Crowd Play” features.

The growth of Google Stadia might not have been quite as substantial as it could have been, but July 2020 has brought with it yet more glimpses of what the game-streaming platform will eventually be capable of.