Whilst it didn’t flop, Google Stadia hasn’t made a particularly memorable entrance into the gaming sphere. Following a generously described rough launch, which saw founders not receiving codes and a complete lack of meaningful communication from Google, Stadia has seemingly failed to make an impact on mainstream gamers. But, finally, there’s an update. And it looks pretty good. Kind of.
What’s Up With Stadia?
Well, quite a lot. Stadia’s game choice is, shall we say, lacking. There simply ain’t many of them, and what exists were already out on other platforms. Only one game was new for Stadia – Gylt, a timed exclusive. Players can now expect 120 games in 2020. On top of that at least 10 will be timed exclusives, here by July.
What these 120 games consist of remains unclear. When Stadia announced itself it made insinuations that subscription model platforms – such as EA Access and Ubisoft UPlay+ – would be part of the platform. It could be that the 120 games include vast back catalogs and very little in the way of new offerings. It’s an important detail and one we can only speculate about.
Stadia also announced that it is continuing to evolve the platform, bringing:
- Support for 4k gaming on the Web
- Add further Assistant functionality when playing on the Web
- Support additional Android Phones
- Wireless gameplay on the Web through the Stadia controller
I guess we can be thankful that the platform doesn’t require updates. The full statement is here.
What Else Is New?
In other news, BT – a British telecommunications company – has partnered with Google, offering the Premiere Edition of Stadia for free when purchasing superfast broadband. It’s a good package, receiving all you need to play Stadia. It amounts to £119 of free goods with a service which you can use it on.
Is Stadia Good Now?
Stadia works. I own it, I’ve played it, it’s alright. Whether or not it’ll ever become a true console killer remains unseen, but my experience would allude to no. The truth is there just isn’t enough to drive players to it and without offering something unique that is unlikely to happen. I guess we’ll have to wait to see what those exclusives are.
