Back in March of this year, Google unveiled Stadia, a new cloud gaming service. While a lot about how the service would function (on a backend) was revealed, pricing, games, and other launch info were still unknown, until today at Stadia Connect.
Pricing
Alright, so here’s how pricing will work for Stadia. You’re allowed to buy and play games individually, without a subscription, with Stadia Base. However, you will be limited to 1080p, 60 FPS, and stereo sound.
Stadia Pro costs $9.99/month and gets you 4K, 60 FPS, and 5.1 surround sound. In addition, you’ll get a few free games every now and then (starting with Destiny 2: The Collection) along with discounts on some game purchases. So, in other words, you’ll still need to buy certain games even if you have Stadia Pro.
Google also announced a Stadia Founder’s Edition which you can preorder right now on the Google Store for $129. It comes with a Chromecast Ultra, an exclusive Night Blue Stadia Controller, 3 months of Stadia Pro for you and a friend, and an exclusive Stadia Name. You’ll also get early access to Stadia at launch.
Also, while Stadia will work with any supported controller, you can purchase the official Stadia Controller for $69. It comes in three colors: Clearly White, Just Black, and Wasabi. While we don’t know which are the supported controllers, I believe the Xbox and PlayStation ones are, so that’s good news.
Games
These are the games listed as available on Stadia with “more to come.”
- Bandai Namco – Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2
- Bethesda – DOOM Eternal, DOOM 2016, Rage 2, The Elder Scrolls Online, Wolfenstein: Youngblood
- Bungie – Destiny 2: The Collection (free with Stadia Pro)
- Capcom – TBD
- Coatsink – Get Packed (Stadia exclusive)
- Codemasters – GRID
- Deep Silver – Metro Exodus
- Drool – Thumper
- Electronic Arts – TBD
- Giants Software – Farming Simulator 19
- Larian Studios – Baldur’s Gate 3
- nWay Games – Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid
- Rockstar Games – TBD
- Sega – Football Manager
- SNKÂ –Â Samurai Shodown
- Square Enix – Final Fantasy XV, Tomb Raider Definitive Edition, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Shadow of the Tomb Raider
- 2K Games – NBA 2K, Borderlands 3
- Tequila Works – Gylt (Stadia exclusive)
- Warner Bros. – Mortal Kombat 11
- THQÂ –Â Darksiders Genesis
- Ubisoft – Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Just Dance, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint, Tom Clancy’s The Division 2, Trials Rising, The Crew 2
https://youtu.be/nx21mOYsb2k
Launch info
Stadia Pro launches in November of this year in 14 countries: United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Belgium, Finland, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, and Sweden. Stadia Base will launch in 2020. Interestingly, the fine print states Stadia is not available in Hawaii or Guam. Google also says they’re working hard to bring Stadia to more countries in 2020.
Of course, you’ll also need some relatively good internet to play Stadia. 10 Mbps is the recommended minimum to play. You can also test your connection for Stadia here.
Stadia is available on your TV with a Chromecast Ultra (for now), any computer or laptop with the Chrome browser, and Pixel 3 and 3a smartphones with the Stadia app. It will expand to more smartphones soon, however.
You can check out the website at Stadia.com for additional info.
Source:Â Google, Stadia FAQ
