A world of YouTube portals where gamers can dive into games like doorways into parallel universes. Thousands of players in Battle Royales at once. An instant-streaming playground for all sorts of games. This is what Google Stadia promised earlier this year at a big, flashy GDC event in March that I sat through, hearing gaming veteran Phil Harrison promise wild ideas. And none of that is here now.
Like
- Stadia works streaming games to TVs, laptops, and Pixel phones
- Google’s controller feels great
- Game saves are resumed easily when switching devices
Don’t Like
- Limited features at launch lack many of Google’s promised perks
- Requires $120 hardware kit for TV play
- Games are sold separately, at relatively high prices
- Laptop/phone gaming requires wired controllers
Stadia’s launch day is tomorrow… sort of. Really, consider this the start of Stadia’s early-access beta period. Because Google’s big promises haven’t arrived, and at the price of the Stadia’s Founder’s Edition, I can’t recommend anyone jump onboard at the moment. Google’s experimental game streaming service, Stadia, launches without many of its promised features, and just a handful of games. It works, but there’s not much incentive to buy in.
We’ve heard about the promises of streaming games over the internet for a decade.
Yep, we’re streaming fine.
Sarah Tew/CNET
Stadia really does work as a way to stream games. I’ve only played a couple of the 12 games Google promised by today’s launch, though. That short list pales compared to what Microsoft already has on tap for its in-beta game-streaming service, xCloud. It’s no match for what Nvidia’s game streaming GeForce Now already has or what PlayStation Now offers.
Game streaming, by playing games over the internet without need for a download, has been around for years, dating back to the ill-fated OnLive startup in 2010. It’s always been an idea just tantalizingly out of reach, thanks to bandwidth and latency concerns.
What Google’s been talking about is a new idea beyond the competition: It promises a more powerful set of servers that can push multiplayer games of the future, and streamable YouTube experiences that blend broadcast and esports. I regret to say that I can’t determine the reality of any of that right now, because Stadia as it currently exists is just a way to stream a handful of slightly older games. The future possibilities are wild. But the present capabilities are functional but familiar.
Here’s what I’ve learned.
The controller is great, but the Founder’s Edition also includes a Chromecast Ultra, a cable, and a few months of service.
Sarah Tew/CNET
It’s expensive
It costs $120 to get the early edition Founder’s pack, which includes a Stadia controller, a Chromecast Ultra, a short USB-C-to-C cable, a Destiny 2 game download, and three months of a $10-per-month Stadia Pro subscription service needed to take advantage of all of Stadia’s online features. Also, you need to buy the actual games at their regular prices… even though you can’t download them. A more affordable Stadia play service is launching in 2020, though details are unclear. It all seems like a lot to pay for a “consoleless console.”
Prices of Stadia games at launch, if you’re curious, are below. They’re basically full retail game prices. This could get crazy expensive fas.
- Assassin’s Creed Odyssey: Normally $60, but $30 with Stadia Pro
- Gylt: $30
- Just Dance 2020: $50
- Kine: $20
- Mortal Kombat 11: Normally $60, but $42 with Stadia Pro
- Red Dead Redemption 2: $60
- Samurai Showdown: $60
- Thumper: $20
- Shadow of the Tomb Raider: $60
- Rise of the Tomb Raider: $30
- Tomb Raider 2013: Normally $20, but $10 with Stadia Pro
- Final Fantasy XV: Normally $40, but $30 with Stadia Pro
- Assassin’s Creed Odyssey Stadia Ultimate Edition: Normally $120, but $60 with Stadia Pro
- Mortal Kombat 11 Premium Edition: Normally $90, but $63 with Stadia Pro
- Red Dead Redemption 2 Special Edition: $80
- Red Dead Redemption 2 Ultimate Edition: $100
Video quality is excellent (on my TV)
Stadia is meant to work on 5GHz Wi-Fi connections 10Mbps and up, scaling from 720p to 4K HDR at 60fps with 5.1 surround, over the Chromecast Ultra. Mileage may vary on laptops using Chrome, Chromebooks and Pixel phones, but Google’s only enabling that silky 4K on TVs for now.
I played over my home Fios connection with 100Mbps Wi-Fi. Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Destiny 2 and GYLT looked great. To me, they seemed good enough to seem like they were playing on a console. On a Pixelbook Go and Pixel 4, they were playable but had lower framerate and video quality.
If you want to be wireless, play on the TV right now.
Sarah Tew/CNET
TV is the best way to play, by far
The Chromecast Ultra setup is easy, provided you have a Google Home app ready to set it up. I then use the Stadia app to log in, pair the controller and buy games. Once I’ve done that, pressing the Stadia controller’s power button logs me in, Stadia pops up and I can launch games and play from where I left off. It feels like launching a console.
My first time playing quit out after a few minutes, which was concerning. But other sessions were fine, and everything was so smooth that I melted into the games and forgot they were streaming at all.
TV is the only way to play wirelessly right now: Google requires a USB cable tether to phones (only Pixel phones right now) and laptops (running Chrome, or using a Chromebook), which is annoying. Between that and the TV’s better picture quality through Chromecast Ultra, I’d rather play on a big screen.
If you want to play on a phone, you need to clip the controller on and use a physical cable. Ugh.
Sarah Tew/CNET
Wow, there aren’t many games
Google’s 22-game launch lineup has Red Dead Redemption 2 as its biggest heavy hitter, which looks really good when played through Stadia depending on your home Wi-Fi connection. The handful of games I played were: Read Dead Redemption 2, Kine (a puzzle game that feels like an Apple Arcade
download), Just Dance 2020, Destiny 2, Shadow of the Tomb Raider Definitive Edition, Mortal Kombat 11 Premium Edition, and Gylt (an emotional game about bullying from Tequila Works).
Unless you’re dying to play Destiny, Tomb Raider, Grid, NBA 2K20, Wolfenstein: Youngblood or RDR2 on Google hardware, I can’t see why you’d be interested yet.
Google Assistant doesn’t work yet, so no opinions there
I pressed the Stadia controller’s dedicated Assistant button, and nothing happened. Support for Assistant is still to come, so it’s a dead button right now. It should work in a limited capacity from here on in, with features added over time.
In-game capture is fast and easy
I tapped the capture button to get screenshots and video, and it was a snap. Pressing once took a screen-grab, and pressing and holding back-recorded the last 30 seconds of footage. I launched the Stadia app on my phone, and there were the clips and pics.
But I can’t share them yet, or download them, because that’s not been enabled yet. So… yay?
This is how you pair a Stadia controller with a Chromecast Ultra, btw.
Sarah Tew/CNET
The Stadia controller feels great
Google’s gone way over the top comparing the controller to a chef’s knife, but it’s an excellent controller, seriously. It feels something like a blend of the XBox One controller and Nintendo Switch pro controller, with smooth analog triggers, solid rumble haptics, crisp analog sticks and d-pad. Playing with it feels effortless. I like how the Stadia button turns the platform on, and a solid rumble-throb kicks in to let you know the service has connected.
You could use other controllers (like the Xbox One controller, or even the Nintendo Switch Pro controller) via USB-C on a laptop/chromebook/Pixel phone playing Stadia, but only the Google Stadia controller works with TVs and Chromecast right now.
Shifting screens is fun
When I moved from my living room to an upstairs office TV, all I had to do was take my controller and the Chromecast Ultra (and the charger). Moving to a Chromebook or a phone does mean hard-wiring the controller via USB-C, but it’s fast enough otherwise. Resuming a game feels natural, and I was able to pick up where I left off in Tomb Raider, Destiny 2 or Gylt.
You can only buy games on the phone app
It’s weird that the Stadia interface — clean and clear-cut like the gaming equivalent of a Netflix or Apple TV — shows titles you already own, but you have to go to the Stadia phone app to buy more. I’d prefer to browse games anywhere. But once I’ve set up the controller and bought the games, I don’t need to use my phone again after that.
It’s hard to judge what comes next
Stadia has so few games right now, and I’m trying them with no one else online. It isn’t clear how things will work now that the service is going live, and what other features will kick in before year’s end. I’m curious, but I might lose interest. Others might, too. I have plenty of other great games to play right now: on Apple Arcade, VR and consoles such as the Switch. Stadia isn’t delivering new games yet, it’s just trying to deliver a new way to play through streaming. One that you can already get from other providers. Until Google finds a way to loop in YouTube and develop truly unique competitive large-scale games, Stadia isn’t worth your time yet. Yes, the future is possibly wild, and you can see hints of the streaming-only cloud-based playground Stadia wants to become. But we’ll see what it shapes into over the next handful of months and check back in.