MAY 2020 PCWorld 43access to games you bought if you stop
paying for Stadia Pro—but you’ll still be
restricted to streaming them at 1080p, and in
my experience the 1080p streaming on PC
looks terrible compared to running local.
Keep that in mind as well.
[Update: Google reached out to clarify
that you could already access games you
bought even if you let your subscription lapse
prior to April 8. I missed that update sometime
in February (go.pcworld.com/smfb). You will
still lose access to the Stadia Pro game pool.
This only applies to games you specifically
purchased—and only at 1080p.]
I think what’s made me most skeptical
about Stadia is the state of the platform, both
in November and (especially) now. Now that
the free tier is available, are we considering
Stadia “fully launched”? I ask because the list
of basic features still missing from Stadia is
about as long now as it was in November.
Playing on your TV? You’ll still need the
$70 Chromecast Ultra—and the $70 Stadia
controller too, as that’s the only way to
connect.
A bunch of features are TV-only,
including the touted Google Assistant
functionality.
The Stadia controller is intended to
connect to your Wi-Fi directly, bypassing
specific devices both to limit latency and
enable switching between them on the fly. It
doesn’t work. The controller still connects
wirelessly only to the Chromecast Ultra. PC or
phones? You’ll need a USB-C cable. (Or,
more likely, you’ll just play with a different
controller and accept the latency tradeoff.)
Stadia supports the Pixel line and most
modern Samsung phones, as well as the
gaming-centric Asus and Razer phones.
Huawei, LG, and the rest
are unsupported, and
iOS is completely
off-limits.
That whole idea
where you leave your
game to look at a
YouTube tutorial and
then drop seamlessly
back into your game
afterward? Yeah, that’s
not a thing.
Stadia has improved
You’ll need the Chromecast Ultra to play on your TV. somewhat since launch.