Everything You Need to Know about Google Stadia: Price, Availability, and Games

This past March, Google rocked the gaming world by announcing Google Stadia. Google Stadia promised to deliver a 4K gaming experience without the need of expensive desktops and graphics card. How? All through the cloud. All your game processing will be done in the cloud to give you a smooth hassle free gaming experience.

While Google announced this in its Gaming Developer’s conference, we still had no clue when this service was going to launch, how much it would cost, and what games would be available. Now, days before E3, we know nearly everything there is to know about Stadia.

First, there will be two tiers of Stadia subscription: Stadia Pro and Stadia Base.

It’s not like Netflix or Spotify

Stadia Pro will let you stream your games at 4K resolution and 60fps with 5.1 surround sound system. You get access to Google Stadia’s catalog of free games that will be updated regularly. However, you will have to purchase popular triple-A titles, The subscription charge is for the convenience of streaming a game anytime anywhere and the cross-platform support that Google brags about.

Stadia Free

Stadia Free will be free to anyone to play with. However, you will be limited to 1080p resolution at 60fps. You will only get stereo sound and you won’t get access to Google Stadia’s catalog of free games. You will have to buy every game and you won’t get stadia pro exclusive discounts on any game.

If you cancel your stadia pro subscription any time, you can still play the games you bought during your stadia pro subscription. But you won’t get the 4K resolution.

The founder’s edition

These subscription services will debut on 2020. But if you want to get your hands on Stadia this year (this November), you can do so by purchasing the Google Stadia Founder’s Edition.

The founder’s edition will cost you a one time fee of $130. This will give you a Night Blue limited edition Google Stadia Controller, a chromecast, 3 months of Stadia Pro subscription, and 3 months of gift stadia pro subscription that you can gift to someone else. Also, you get the chance to secure your Stadia name before anyone else (imagine a gaming name without a number).

Where will you find Stadia?

Stadia will be released in 14 countries at first that include USA, Canada, UK, Ireland, etc.

Games that will be available

30 different games will be available at launch. The titles include Doom, Assassin’s Creed, Guilt, etc. There is a good variety of games of different genres to cater to everybody’s tastes.

Requirements to run Stadia

To run Stadia, you’ll need at least a 10Mbps connection. This will give you 720p 60fps streaming with stereo audio. 20Mbps will give you 1080p 60fps streaming with surround sound. For 4K 60fps with surround sound, you’ll need a stable 35Mbps connection.

For developed countries, I don’t think these are huge numbers.

Issues

One gripe that most users will have at this moment is that Stadia service will only run on Google Pixel 3 and 3a devices. But Google has said that it’s goal is to be available in as many devices as possible. If your device can run Chrome, you can get Stadia in the future. How far into the future? That’s not yet known. We might get some of your answers in the E3.