62 TECH ADVISOR • APRIL 2020REVIEW
anywhere, at any time. And yet the reality, at least for
now, is a labyrinth of potential pitfalls. Does Google
Stadia work? Sure, under the right circumstances and
with the right game. Will it work for you, though? That’s
a harder question, or rather a hundred questions, any
one of which could prove fatal to Stadia’s chances.
Let’s dig in.The best case scenario
Those who purchase the Google Stadia Founder’s
Edition, or functionally identical Premiere Edition, will
receivea Stadiacontroller,a 4K-readyChromecast
Ultra,andthreemonthsofthe£8.99 per month Stadia
Pro subscription. This is the only way to get access to
Stadia right now and for the foreseeable future.
And there’s a reason for that: it’s the only use case
thatfeelsfinished.GoogleStadiaarriveswitha litany
ofmissing features, especially on PC and phones. As
such, the Chromecast is the only device that supports
4Kstreamingatrelease,aswellas5.1surround
soundandthewirelessStadiacontroller.Those
featureswon’thit other platforms until 2020.
Consider the Chromecast Ultra the ‘Best Case
Scenario’ for testing, then. Specifically, a Chromecast
Ultrawireddirectlyintoyourrouter,withsolid
downloadspeeds(500Mb/sin mycase)in a home
nearoneofGoogle’sEdgeNodes.I’veconducted
mostofmyGoogleStadiareviewin thismanner,
andyou know what?
That’s a loose term, of course – and therein lies
the problem. Google Stadia is bound to be divisive
because the definition of what’s ‘Good Enough’