Many users will be wanting this, the expanded android phone support will be on deck earlier this year.
Google Stadia is not like any other console available in the market. It allows you to stream games on your TV, mobile, or PCs. It is Google’s jumpstart in the field of cloud gaming. Yes, Google is a giant in every technology industry but in cloud gaming it has some tough competition by Nividia (GeForce Now), Microsoft (xCloud) and Sony (PlayStation Now).
Similar to all of these consoles, Stadia runs it games on powerful datacenter servers, due to this only it is possible to stream powerful demanding games on not so good hardware devices such as phones.
Are you a developer? Well, Google allows developers to optimize games for Stadia. There is a subscription fees too for extra features such as streaming in 4K and freebies.
Stadia still is missing out some of the features that created hype. When it was rolled out by Google they hyped it with great ambitions such as Crowd Play and State Share. Yes, they will all come to the Stadia but at present they are not available.
Another thing is that it only works over wifi connections because streaming games need a decent network connection with decent speed and quality. Google is a latecomer in the world of Cloud Gaming so it is refining the beasics of cloud gaming for now, while other platforms have already levelled up.
How much Stadia cost?
Stadia’s pricing can be a little confusng. As Google has not released any free or paid subscription plans, but just the hardware bundles. It was launced with a Founder’s Edition, which included a limited-edition blue controller, a Chromecast Ultra streaming device, three months of Stadia Pro, Bungie’s full Destiny 2 experience, first dibs on a username and a buddy pass that gave a friend three months to try Stadia Pro.
Now stadia has evolved into a $129 Premiere Edition and now it comes with a white Stadia controller, Chromecast Ultra and three months of the Pro subscription. Verizon announced in the mid-January 2020 that they will be building Stadia Premium Edition with new subscriptions to its top-end Fios Gigabit broadband plan beginning January 29th.
Stadia Base
Stadia Pro
Cost
Availability
Quality
Free Games
Games discounts
Free
Coming soon this year
Upto 1080p/60 FPS
No
No
$9.99 per month
Now
4k/60FPS, HDR
Limited window offers
Discount offers
Any information about the subscription plans or expanded regional debuts have not been disclosed by Google. Yet, it is currently available in North America, selected countries in Europe and Scandinavia including UK.
How to games on Stadia?
At present, the games store of Stadia is behind a login that you can get only with the Premiere Edition account.
Prices of games totally depends on the publisher and they will be sold only through Google. If you are a subsriber then you have to pay attention to the discount offers.
Cancellation Policy
If you ever decide to cancel your subscription of Stadia Pro then your stadia reverts to Stadia base. In the base subscription you can play all the games you have paid for but you lose access to any free content this is the perk you get from Pro subscription. Google saves your progress on their servers and the add-on history so at any point of time you can resubscribe and start from where you left off.
You can return your stadia Premium hardware under 15 days of purchase but you will lose Stadia Pro 3 month trial and freebies. If you return a game for a refund then the amount may be refunded to you within two weeks and less than two hours of gameplay.
We have all seen content dissapearing from platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime in the past. So, it will be nothing new if some publisher cancels the game and some gamers are known to drift in and out of subscription services. If you have spent money on a game then google tends to keep the game available.
Requirements of Stadia
In present state you can play Stadia 3 games on selected Android phones (the Pixel 2, Pixel 3, Pixel 3a and Pixel 4) and on iPhone and iPads and on TVs which have Chromecast Ultra and Stadia controller) in the Chrome browser on Laptops and Desktops or on Chrome OS devices. iOS users will face some problems as of now you cannot buy games within them, you can just manage and play them. Devices like Nitendo Switch and non-Google phones are not in the list of supported devices of Google Stadia but they can still manage to run it with success.
From the time of launch, Google has expanded the range of products that support Stadia controller to any HID-compilant one, including many Xbox controllers and the DualShock 4. It also supports TV via the Stadia Controller but only over Wi-Fi and Chromecast Ultra. On Android it required the support of atleast android 6 and on iPhones the support of iOS 11 is required and for Chrome OS it required Chrome OS 77. The controller can be connected by USB or Bluetooth. Stadia does not have the support of keyboard and mouse play using Chrome.
Google specifies that you need a bandwidth of atleast 10Mbps for 720p gameplay, 20Mbps for 1080p and 35Mbps for 4K gampleay. Stadia requires a wired Ethernet connction but you can also use your phone’s hotspot to play games. According to Google the stadia sucks upto 4.5GB, 12.6GB or 20GB per hour of data for the respective resolution. If the connection is little erratic or drops, Google buffers your game state for a few minutes to give you an opportunity to fix it.
Stadia Pro’s Games February Line-Up
- Gylt
- Metro Exodus
Current Game Lineup
- Destiny 2 – The Collection
- Kine
- Gylt
- Thumper
- Red Dead Redemption 2
- Rise of the Tomb Raider
- Tomb Raider Definitive Edition
- Shadow of the Tomb Raider Definitive Edition
- Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
- Mortal Kombat 11
- Just Dance 2020
- Borderlands 3
- Samurai Showdown
- Attack on Titan 2 Final Battle
- Dragon Ball Z Xenoverse 2
- Darksiders Genesis
- Farming Simulator 19
- Final Fantasy XV
- Football Manager 2020
- Grid
- NBA 2020
- Rage 2
- Metro Exodus
- Ghost Recon – Breakpoint
- Wolfenstein – Youngblood
- Trial Rising
- Monster Energy Supercross – The Official Videogame 3
Upcoming Games
- Doom Eternal
- Marvel’s Avengers
- CyberPunk 2077
- The Elders Scrolls Online
- Watch Dogs – Legion
- Tom Clancy’s Division 2
Future of Stadia
The team of Stadia has already planned the journey of it for the first 3 months of 2020. There will be more features added and the teams expects to release 120 games in 2020 for Stadia.
The features that you can expect to see in the coming months –
- Improvements with the Google assistant support
- Wireless gameplay with Stadia controller
- Including 4K support
- Support for more android phones.