So after a reveal at GDC earlier this year, Stadia is finally launching on November 19th for people who have ordered the Founders or Premiere Edition from the Google store. Here’s what you need to know about the new Gaming platform from Google.

What is it?
Stadia is a new game streaming platform brought to you by Google and powered by the cloud. Stadia promises to bring 4K HDR gaming to you at a silky smooth 60FPS by utilising the powerful data centre hardware to run the game and stream it to your TV, Pixel phones, Chromebooks, PCs or Macs in the same way you stream movies and TV shows from Netflix or Amazon and music from Spotify or Apple Music.
What isn’t it?
Stadia is not the ‘Netflix of games’. Just because the games are being streamed to you, doesn’t mean they’re all included for one monthly price. In fact, after purchasing the Premiere Edition which includes a controller, Chromecast Ultra and 3 months of Stadia Pro, you’ll need to purchase any games that you’d like to play from the Stadia store in the same way you do from Steam and the Xbox or Playstation store.
What is the Stadia Pro Subscription?
Stadia Pro is a £8.99 monthly subscription that unlocks the full power of Stadia including 4K Ultra HD resolution with HDR at 60FPS and 5.1 surround sound! It also includes 1 or 2 free games each month that will be available for as long as you continue to subscribe. The first 2 free games for Stadia Pro subscribers are Destiny 2: The Collection which is the base Destiny 2 with all the expansions, and Samurai Showdown which is a cel shaded, fast paced fighting game. As I mentioned previously, everyone that orders the Premiere Edition (or ordered the Founders) gets 3 months of Stadia Pro included.
What if I don’t want another monthly subscription?
Stadia will be opening up a ‘Base’ version in 2020 which will let you buy any available title and instantly stream it at 1080p, 60FPS with stereo sound. You don’t need a Stadia controller, you can play on your desktop or laptop (Mac or PC) from the Chrome browser using your mouse and keyboard or if you’d like to use a controller an Xbox or Playstation controller will work just fine.

What about the games?
In addition to the 2 free games (Destiny 2: The Collection & Samurai Showdown) Stadia will have 20 more titles available at launch including big names like Red Dead Redemption 2, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Football Manager 2020, Final Fantasy 15 as well as a Stadia exclusive title called Gylt.
Here’s the launch lineup in full…
- Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
- Attack on Titan: Final Battle 2
- Destiny 2: The Collection (free with Stadia Pro)
- Farming Simulator 2019
- Final Fantasy XV
- Football Manager 2020
- GRID
- Gylt (Stadia Exclusive)
- Just Dance 2020
- Kine
- Metro Exodus
- Mortal Kombat 11
- NBA 2K20
- Rage 2
- Rise of the Tomb Raider
- Red Dead Redemption 2
- Samurai Showdown (free with Stadia Pro)
- Shadow of the Tomb Raider
- Thumper
- Tomb Raider
- Trials Rising
- Wolfenstein: Youngblood
What kind of internet speed is required?
Google recommends a minimum download speed of 10Mbps for 720p, 60FPS streaming with 20Mbps recommended for 1080p 60FPS gaming and finally, to experience all the 4K HDR 60FPS goodness, Google is recommending 35Mbps.
Where to buy
The Stadia Premiere Edition is available to order right now from store.google.com/product/stadia