Stadia’s promised features are coming.
An update to Stadia on Android last week reportedly shows that some long-awaited features are coming to the cloud-based gaming app. An examination of the code in the Stadia app update shows that YouTube streaming, Family Sharing and the free tier of service are on the way, according to 9to5Google.
There’s no telling exactly when these features will go live, but this does provide insight into how they might work when they do.
So far, Stadia is still only available for people who purchased either the Founder’s or Premiere edition, but a free version of the service is set to arrive soon. According to the coding in the app, there could be limits to how many free accounts can play at the same time. There’s a message in the code saying “Sorry, Stadia is full in your area,” according to 9to5Google, which might be a way for Google to limit players using free accounts in order to accommodate people paying for the service. The specifics on the numbers of accounts before this warning is triggered are unknown. There’s also reportedly mention of a “Pro Pass,” which appears to be for people who want to pay the monthly subscription or receive one as a gift.
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Google already announced that Family Sharing is coming to Stadia, but it has yet to launch. The code in the app reportedly shows that one person will be able to play a specific game at a time. If two people sharing the account want to play the same game, then another version will have to be purchased.
The option to stream video while playing games is another Stadia feature we’re still waiting on. Controls to go live and other options are now in the app’s code, according to 9to5Google. There are also reportedly options for game capturing that will let players download screenshots to their devices or upload them to the web.
Google didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.