Google Stadia Premiere Edition - White

Product Information

What’s next for Stadia? Well, we’re eager to continue working on bringing the best games and new features to our community of players so that we can help build a bright future for cloud gaming. That means: Our wired testing was done using the Chromecast that came in the Premiere Edition. However, we also tested on WiFi using a keyboard and mouse with Stadia loaded inside of Google Chrome. Strangely, the performance was better in Destiny 2 when playing this way, though the visuals took a significant hit. Last but not least you need a connection to the internet, something we thought would be an early nail in the platform’s coffin considering how few of us have fibre connections. That being said, Google Stadia worked on 10Mbps connections and only requires 35Mbps for full 4K HDR/60fps.

There was some really good stuff - like Red Dead Redemption 2 and Mortal Kombat 11 - plus some games that are probably less appealing to folks like Just Dance 2020.Stadia had some exclusives in its collection, including a child’s first horror game called GYLT. It also hosts highly anticipated titles like Watch Dogs Legion, Baldur’s Gate 3, Marvel’s Avengers, and Cyberpunk 2077.Expanding all categories of games content - not just more games overall, but new types of games that we’ve heard players ask for, including genres like online action games, open world titles, plus free games, trials and demos. Unsurprisingly for a service that's closed down, Google Stadia hardware sales have been suspended. You also can't buy games, new controllers (without going second-hand) or a Stadia Pro subscription, either.

As for what’s in the box, that’s it. Google includes a short setup manual but no other documentation. Seeing how Stadia is a new-ish concept and likely the first introduction for most people to cloud gaming, some additional documentation on what’s supported and what isn’t would be nice. Setting Up Stadia It comes down to a matter of preference: do you want to pay for a subscription-only service, or do you want to be able to buy games outright? Other than that, it's a question of library and company preference as well. Stadia by far has the better overall library right now and a much more robust feature set, so at the moment it's the clear winner, but that could change in time. Other competitors exist, but they're all in slightly different verticals. For example, Stadia can't really compete with Microsoft's Game Pass Ultimate with Xbox Cloud Gaming in terms of value, but that library is often shuffled in and out, is fragmented across console, PC, and cloud streaming, and doesn't allow ownership. PlayStation Now is solid, but offers mostly older games and doesn't have the same performance quality and flexibility as Stadia. GeForce Now and Shadow are good PC streaming services, but they aren't truly cloud-based platforms, you just stream access to a remote desktop, more or less.Adding games to your library is the best part of Stadia. If you see something, you can play it within seconds. Claiming the free titles with Stadia Pro, the app immediately asked where we wanted to start playing and, sure enough, after a couple seconds of loading, the games started. Both the signup and streaming service are activated through the Google Stadia app on Android and iOS. Once you’re logged in, you can then either Cast a game from the app to your Chromecast Ultra that comes with either of the two editions or go to Stadia.com to start streaming to your PC. Google plans to add wireless support for the Stadia controller on other devices besides the Chromecast Ultra in early 2020. If you use a compatible Bluetooth controller to play games on Stadia, they currently work wirelessly.