Stadia

Stadia Specifications

Stadia is a cloud gaming service developed and operated by Google. It allows users to stream video games on various devices, including laptops, desktops, smartphones, and TVs. The games are hosted on remote servers and are streamed to the user's device over the internet. Stadia offers both free and paid subscription plans, with the paid plan providing access to a larger library of games. The service has faced some challenges since its launch in 2019, including issues with lag and latency, limited game selection, and a lack of exclusive content. However, Google continues to invest in and improve the platform, and it remains a popular choice for gamers who want to play high-quality games without having to invest in expensive hardware.

The service was to compete with Sony's PlayStation Plus cloud streaming, Nvidia's GeForce Now, Amazon's Luna, and Microsoft's Xbox Cloud Gaming. Stadia initially received a mixed reception from reviewers, with most criticism directed at its limited library of games and lack of promised features. Google had initially intended to develop in-house games in addition to hosting games produced by third parties, but abandoned this plan in February 2021, shutting down its studios. The service continued to sell third party games, and Google offered the game-streaming technology as a white-label product. Google announced in September 2022 that it would be shutting down Stadia; the service went offline permanently on January 18, 2023, at 11:59 pm PST.

Stadia was accessible through Chromecast Ultra and Android TV devices, on personal computers via the Google Chrome web browser and other Chromium-based browsers, Chromebooks and tablets running ChromeOS, and the Stadia mobile app on supported Android devices as long as the latest version of the Chrome browser and the latest version of the Stadia app were installed. There was also an experimental mode with support for all Android devices that were capable of installing the Stadia mobile app. In December 2020, Google released an iOS browser-based progressive web application for Stadia, enabling gameplay in the Safari browser.

Stadia was capable of streaming video games to players from the company's numerous data centers at up to 4K resolution and 60 frames per second, with support for high-dynamic-range (HDR) video. It offered the option to purchase games from its store, along with a selection of free-to-play games. While the base service was free and allowed users stream at resolutions up to 1080p, a Stadia Pro monthly subscription allowed for a maximum resolution of 4K, 5.1 surround sound, HDR, and offered a growing collection of free games that—once claimed—remained in the user's library whenever they had an active subscription. Both tiers allowed users to play online multiplayer games without any additional costs. Stadia was integrated with YouTube, and its "state share" feature allowed players to launch a supported game from a save state shared by another player via permalink. The service supported Google's proprietary Stadia game controller, along with various non-Stadia controllers through USB and Bluetooth connections.

Stadia required users to purchase games to use on the service, though it also offered a selection of fully free-to-play titles. Pro subscribers also had the option to claim a growing catalog of free games that, once claimed, remained available to the user as long as they had an active subscription. At the time of the platform's unveiling in June 2019, Google announced that Gylt by Tequila Works and Get Packed by Moonshine Studios would be timed exclusives to Stadia. The service launched with 22 games, adding 4 more in December 2019, and by the end of 2020 the service had over 130 games.

In January 2020, Google announced that it planned to release over 120 games for Stadia during that year, of which 10 were timed exclusives set to release in the first half of the year. Further, Stadia claimed that more than 100 games would arrive in 2021. In December 2020, Ubisoft's gaming subscription, Ubisoft+ arrived on Stadia, letting users play all Ubisoft games available on Stadia. There were 18 Ubisoft games available at launch with later titles added as they released.

On January 13, 2023, five days before its closure, Stadia Platform Content released Worm Game, used internally to test features before the service's launch, as both their only first-party title and the final title released in the service, as a thank you gift for all Stadia players.