Google Stadia: Everything you need to know

At the start of this month, Google significantly expanded Stadia’s availability by no longer requiring the purchase of a hardware bundle. As stay at home orders around the world continue, the company is promoting free video games via Stadia Pro on the Google homepage.

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Google Stadia recently enjoyed a public launch, and if you’re anything like us on the 9to5Google team, you’ve probably added your coworkers as friends for the occasional after-work game session. But what if you maybe want to jump into Destiny 2 for a few minutes without showing everyone what you’re playing? It’s actually very easy to more or less appear offline on Google Stadia to hide your mid-day gaming sessions from your friends and/or co-workers.

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Google Stadia officially launched its free tier yesterday, bringing gaming to a brand-new market of folks who may not have considered it before. One thing many Stadia fans have been asking for, though, is Android TV support, which now appears to be much closer to a reality.

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Coinciding with the launch of Stadia’s free tier yesterday, version 2.13 of the Google Stadia app arrived on Android. Digging through the update, we’ve found that Google has begun working on the ability to play Stadia games with touch controls on your phone, as well as initial Android TV support.

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Google is properly launching Stadia to the world over the next 48 hours, allowing folks who may have been on the fence about the idea of game streaming a chance to try it for themselves. However, like many things in life, there’s a bit of a catch, as there may technically be a limit on the number of free Stadia account slots at first.

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Google’s ambitious game streaming service came online last November and has spent the past five months adding platform features, as well as titles. Today, Stadia availability is expanding significantly through free access and an introductory two-month Pro trial.

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Accessing Stadia today requires purchasing the $129 Premiere Edition. However, Google and its partners have given out promo codes on more than one occasion since launch. The latest round sees some YouTube Premium subscribers receiving a three-month trial to Stadia Pro.

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While the promise of Google Stadia shines brightest when playing AAA titles on a cheap Chromecast, Google’s gaming platform has also picked up a slate of exclusive indie games, including Lost Words: Beyond the Page. I took some time this week to experience and review Lost Words, which brought me on a roller-coaster of emotions not unlike a Disney film.

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In light of Google Stadia and Microsoft xCloud, Amazon’s entry into the game streaming field as a large cloud provider is not surprising. A new report details Amazon’s gaming interest with a competitor to Stadia and original content.

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Following last week’s blockbuster release of Doom Eternal, Google today announced three new Stadia Pro games for April 2020.

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Two weeks ago, Google announced a slate of “First on Stadia” titles. Lost Words: Beyond the Page is now getting a Stadia launch date and exclusive status, while publisher Modus Games also revealed that Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break and Cris Tales is coming to the streaming platform this year.

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Undoubtedly, the way that the console wars are won is through exclusive titles. So far, Google Stadia has been a bit lacking in that department, with only timed exclusives branded as “First on Stadia” titles. Today, the studio Splash Damage has announced a proper exclusive title is in the works for Google Stadia.

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At the virtual Google for Games Developer Summit today, the company announced “Stadia Makers” to bring more indie titles to the platform. This “expansion of self-publishing” is specifically targeting “experienced independent game developers” and done in partnership with Unity.

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To mark the launch of Doom Eternal, Google this evening discounted Stadia Premiere Edition to $99. This is the game streaming service’s first-ever direct hardware sale.

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The Google Stadia app updated on Android and iOS this week, and while things don’t look any different on the surface, we’ve found that Google is prepping to bring wireless Stadia Controller support to Android, along with a mention of “Pro-only games.”

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Google Stadia’s biggest promise has been playing 4K games without the need for crazy expensive hardware, but it’s struggled to live up to that promise. Now, it’s been confirmed that DOOM: Eternal won’t be available in “true” 4K on Google Stadia.

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Following GDC’s postponement due to the coronavirus, Google announced that it was planning a digital developer conference to replace its usual on-site presence. The Google for Games Dev Summit is now taking place a week later on March 23.

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