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Google has outlined what it has planned for its recently launched streaming platform, Stadia, including confirmation there are currently 120 games expected to launch on the service throughout 2020, ten of which will be exclusive to Stadia.
In an update on the official blog, the megacorp said it “delivered a great gaming experience for players” when Stadia launched in November, and says it continues “to work toward our long-term vision for the future of gaming”.
It also confirmed that six new titles have been added to the Stadia Pro library, updated all Chromecast Ultras so players can play Stadia “on more screens”, and added features like Google Assistant functionality and game achievements.
Google additionally welcomed Typhoon Studios to the “Stadia Games and Entertainment family” and delivered “a multiplayer first for gamers with Stream Connect’s debut in Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint”.
Looking ahead to Q1 2020, gamers can expect support for 4k gaming on the web, further Assistant functionality when playing on the web, Android phone support, and wireless gameplay on the web through the Stadia controller.
“We have a lot more planned and will continue to work hard toward delighting gamers with our vision for Stadia,” the company concluded. “Looking at our upcoming lineup, we are tracking more than 120 games coming to Stadia in 2020, and are targeting more than ten games in the first half of this year alone that will be only available on Stadia when they launch. We’re working with our partners to share more on those games soon.”
It’s not been a flawless rollout for Google’s new service. Google acknowledged “an issue” delayed the dissemination of invitation codes to early adopters of its streaming service, Stadia, which officially launched in November. In some cases, players had already received their packs but were unable to use it without the invitation code.
Though the issue purportedly only affected “a small fraction” of preorders, a number of customers reported that despite ordering the Founders’ Edition when preorders went live, orders were not shipped in order and they had yet to receive correspondence from Google inviting them to register their gamertag/nickname several days after launch – even though this was widely advertised as a perk of the Founder’s Edition.
Just days before its launch, Google confirmed a number of key features originally detailed to early adopters of Google’s streaming subscription service will now be delayed. Further to a Reddit AMA with Google’s Andrey Doronichev and Beri Lee, it was confirmed Stadia’s Founder’s Edition would launch without achievement notifications, family share, or 4K streaming for PC. It’s also been confirmed that the much-publicised Buddy Pass – which enables players to gift access to a friend – would be delayed for approximately three months (although it eventually rolled out in December 2019).
Google recently responded to criticism that its Stadia streaming service is failing to meet consumer expectations after it was advertised that all Stadia games at launch would support 4K and said the onus was on developers to “continue to improve their games on Stadia”. It also recently agreed to refund Google Stadia players who purchased Farming Simulator and/or Tomb Raider Definitive Edition ahead of news both games would be available for “free” to Pro subscribers as part of a promotion in December.
