Google Stadia: Everything you need to know

Google last month started fulfilling its Q1 2020 roadmap by rolling out its streaming service to Samsung, Asus, and Razer phones. Up next is 4K gaming for Stadia on the web, with that functionality beginning to appear for users this evening.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Originally announced at GDC last year, Stadia Games and Entertainment is a division driving Google’s ambitions for Stadia exclusive games and especially first-party titles. Today, Stadia Games & Entertainment is announcing its second development studio, headed up by the executive producer of Sony’s God of War.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Recording and sharing is a big part of gaming today, but Google’s first stab at the functionality is quite rudimentary. Stadia Captures are now beginning to roll out to the web with the ability to download.

Expand
Expanding
Close

The Division 2 has been expected to come to Google’s game streaming platform for the past several weeks now. With the launch of the Warlords of New York expansion today, Ubisoft revealed that The Division 2 is launching March 17 on Stadia with PC cross-play.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Gaming platforms live or die based on the games they can offer, and thrive on their exclusives. So far for exclusives, Google has only managed to nab a handful of timed exclusives, branded “First on Stadia,” like Orcs Must Die! 3 and Get Packed. Otherwise, Stadia’s library of games primarily consists of AAA titles both old (Tomb Raider) and new (Borderlands 3).

According to a new report, the reason that library may not contain more indie titles is that Google isn’t offering enough “incentive” for some developers and publishers to bring their games to Stadia, along with fears that Google may shut the service down.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Following last week’s big expansion to Samsung, Asus, and Razer phones, Google today announced three new Stadia Pro games for March 2020.

Expand
Expanding
Close

On Friday afternoon, the Game Developers Conference was officially postponed. A seperate Google for Games Developer Summit — featuring Stadia — set to coincide with GDC will now be a “digital experience” in light of the coronavirus.

Expand
Expanding
Close

To an extent, each gaming console or platform is judged by its library and especially its exclusives. To that end, Google is announcing five more games coming soon to Stadia including three “First on Stadia” games.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Google Stadia received an update today, bringing it to version 2.7, and introducing a few minor tweaks to the UI. Below the surface though, we find that Google is preparing to launch Stadia Base with a Stadia Pro free trial, as well as YouTube live streaming and more.

Expand
Expanding
Close

The latest update to Stadia for Android is rolling out with a handful of tweaks. There are no major changes in version 2.7, but game details are now easier to browse and there is a new cancellation survey for Stadia Pro.

Expand
Expanding
Close

As Google ramps up its game streaming platform of the future, Stadia needs to attract talent that’s different from the company’s existing base. The Stadia team today hosted a Q&A talk for prospective employees that covered several areas.

Expand
Expanding
Close

As it stands, to play Google Stadia on your phone you need to connect a game controller via USB or Bluetooth, but what if you’re in a pinch and all you have is your phone? An indie developer has created TouchStadia, a way to play Stadia with on-screen controls from any Android phone via Google Chrome.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Back in January, Google laid out a three-month roadmap for Stadia. The first platform update sees the game streaming service become available on the latest Samsung Galaxy phones, and drop its Pixel exclusivity.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Google Stadia’s launch was met with a lot of criticism, but a fair number of people ended up buying the Founder’s and Premiere Editions of the “console in the cloud.” Now, the free Stadia Pro trials that came with those bundles are starting to end and we’re wondering — will you keep paying for Google Stadia Pro?

Expand
Expanding
Close

The three-month anniversary of Stadia’s launch today also means that the Pro trial included with Founder’s Edition ends tomorrow for the first players. Ahead of that, the Destiny 2 expansions and an “Upgrade Edition” are now available to buy on Stadia.

Expand
Expanding
Close

The launch of Google Stadia was handled poorly. Well, who am I kidding, it was basically a dumpster fire of missing features and miscommunication. However, the tech behind Stadia is still solid, and it offers a lot of promise for the future. With reports of the PlayStation 5 price being significantly higher, I think Stadia might be a perfect answer to that huge console investment.

Expand
Expanding
Close

It shouldn’t come as a surprise, but Google isn’t forcing its early Stadia adopters to keep paying for the Pro membership should they decide to cancel. If you do pull the plug on your membership, Google will strip some games from your account, but you’ll be able to keep using the service for free.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Both Microsoft and Sony are getting into the video game streaming business. Google Stadia and Xbox Project xCloud both look like rather similar offerings on the surface, but are they?

Expand
Expanding
Close

Microsoft’s Xbox has been one of the dominant gaming platforms for a long time now, but times are changing and a lot of focus is shifting to cloud-based platforms. With just a few months to go until launching its next Xbox, Microsoft’s Phil Spencer has said he views Google Stadia and Amazon as the company’s “main” competition.

Expand
Expanding
Close