6 / 10

Christie Hemm Klok

And so, the future of video games arrives – or at least Google's idea of it. Stadia is the tech giant's first major attempt to penetrate the gaming market beyond mobile, but rather than follow in the footsteps of Microsoft circa 2001 and launch its own console, it's banking on the absence of one.

Technically, it's banking on the absence of almost any hardware whatsoever, other than an internet connection and a screen, presuming that the next generation of gaming will be cloud-based, streamed to players wherever they are.


One of the few bits of hardware Stadia demands is a game controller. Ideally, this will be Google's own, bespoke joypad – currently sold as part of the Stadia Premiere Edition bundle, which also includes a Chromecast Ultra, and is the closest Google is coming to a physical launch package for Stadia – which packs in some unique features but, in practice, any controller with a vaguely industry standard layout will do. The pitch is that Stadia is a platform – log on, play anywhere.

Google isn't the first company to turn its hand to game streaming. One of the most notable antecedents was OnLive, which was announced exactly a decade before Stadia, at Game Developers Conference in March 2009. OnLive launched the following year – and closed its doors for good in 2015, by which point it had already required a corporate rescue package in 2012. All of which establishes the groundwork: game streaming is a risky business.

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There are some fundamental differences between OnLive and Stadia, though. One is simply Google itself, an undeniable powerhouse in the computing space, and capable of funnelling far more investment – monetary and infrastructural – into its streaming platform than OnLive, backed by a cluster of disparate investors, was ever able to. Another is the pace at which technology advances. Internet access in 2019 is broadly better and faster than it was in 2015, and orders of magnitude better than in 2010, making the underlying promise of Stadia more possible.

So, does it work? Kinda

Or, to be slightly harsher, not as such. At launch, Stadia does not live up to its promise of being able to play anywhere, on any screen, just by connecting a controller and accessing your library. It is utterly, expectedly, beholden to the stability and speed of your internet connection, which means for the great majority of players staying at home – just as they would with a console.


If you are at home, connected to a high-speed Wi-Fi network or with the Chromecast Ultra tethered directly by ethernet cable to your router, Stadia actually does live up to its potential, though. Once you're logged on, a process that takes no longer than it does for PS4 or Xbox One to sign in, your library is immediately available, and you're playing in seconds.

Setting up Stadia for the first time is surprisingly simple, largely all done on your phone via the Stadia app. First, you'll register your account – currently, you'll need to sign up for Stadia Pro, which allows 4K, 60fps streams and surround sound; three months' access is included when you buy the Premiere bundle and converts to an £8.99 per month subscription afterwards.

In 2020, Stadia Base will launch, without the monthly fee but with the experience capped to 1080p and stereo sound. Account established, you'll sync it to the Chromecast on your home Wi-Fi network, then the same again for the controller, and you're good to go. From then, wherever you can get online, you can see your account and library of games.

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Clutter-free UI

The UI is one of Stadia's easiest selling points. It's bold and clean, with large cover tiles for each game in your library. The lack of clutter is refreshing, especially when the home screens for PS4 and Xbox One become increasingly busy as more apps and services move to console.

Stadia's tidiness almost seems in direct contrast to Steam's recent overhaul of its user libraries, which forces in activity feeds from friends and a news feed for game updates, whether you want them or not. The closest comparison is the UI for Switch and like Nintendo's console, Stadia squirrels away anything not directly related to the games themselves in a sub-menu, quickly accessed by tapping the Stadia Controller's central menu button.

Play test: home or away?

We were provided with a selection of software to test, including shooter Destiny 2, puzzle game Kine and narrative stealth adventure Gylt, developed by RiME studio Tequila Works and Stadia's sole exclusive title so far. In all cases, playing via Chromecast Ultra in a home environment, the software launched and played smoothly, with no discernible lag, stutter or impediment. The only minor issue encountered in this scenario, and so far only on Gylt, was some very occasional texture pop-in, but nothing game-breaking and no worse than games played locally on a console or PC might present.

Again, though, Stadia is a platform, not a device. While the Chromecast rig worked well, switching to playing on PC (connected to router wirelessly, with a SpeedTest.net result of 191.62Mbps down and 19.3Mbps up) via the Stadia site proved less stable. While Gylt was fine, Destiny 2 proved to be juddery. Testing a single-player mission was largely fine, the momentary spikes of lag or jumps in the stream quality not too interruptive, but those issues would render playing with a team unviable.

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It's perhaps also worth flagging that whether played on TV via Chromecast or through the Stadia site on PC, the player avatar never loaded in the menu screen – this may be down to pre-release access and communication with developer Bungie's servers during this period though.

Playing on PC did however allow us to test Stadia's claims to work with any controller, which it managed admirably. Stadia immediately detected an Xbox controller was being used, and on-screen menu prompts morphed accordingly. Using an Xbox joypad did mean losing some functionality from the official Stadia controller – which we'll get to shortly – but given both controllers have essentially the same layout, the gameplay experience was essentially unchanged.

Stadia also recognised the gaming headset and mic connected to the PC, and could make use of it accordingly with no faffing in settings – a pleasant surprise.

However, step away from a strong internet connection, and Stadia stumbles in all the ways you might expect it to. Playing on mobile, through the app, is impossible even with a 4G data service: what is normally the 'start' bubble on a game's library tile is replaced with one directing you to connect to a Wi-Fi network. This may change with the advent of 5G, but right now, to play your Stadia games on your phone, your data service won't suffice.

Similarly, public Wi-Fi seems to not have the chops to deliver Stadia's service. Testing it out on a train's onboard Wi-Fi may, admittedly, have been overly ambitious, but there was no better luck trying to play in a coffee shop. Destiny 2 and Gylt were both unable to even launch, and while Kine managed to load, even this sedate spatial puzzler experienced slowdown, drops in resolution and severe lag.

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Stadia does a connection test whenever you try to launch a game, mostly in the background if the chosen title will launch, but introducing a daunting window of uncertainty if not. Whether a game will play when on the go is currently a case of playing Russian roulette with your connectivity.

Game library

The selection of games is itself worthy of discussion. While Google has boosted the launch line-up from 12 to 22, Gylt remains the sole exclusive. It's an excellent game, but given its narratively linear nature and its exploration of themes of bullying and mental health, it's very much a top-tier indie title, not a system seller. It also doesn't do anything with game streaming as a platform – there's no leveraging of cloud computing power, for instance – to necessitate it being a Stadia exclusive.

Aside from Gylt, the selection manages to cover an impressive range of gaming genres – now including RPG Final Fantasy XV, fighter Mortal Kombat 11, racer Grid, shooters Metro Exodus and Wolfenstein Youngblood, sports titles NBA 2K20 and Football Manager 2020, and even Farming Simulator 2019, to name just a few – but these are all existing games, ones that much of the target audience will already own or have played elsewhere. Given these games will need to be purchased on top of a subscription to Stadia Pro, there doesn't feel like enough material to win people over yet. (Here's our pick of the best Stadia games at launch).

There are also a few features missing from Stadia at launch, and while Google promises they'll be added as soon as possible, it is disappointing that they're currently absent. Family sharing of purchases isn't supported, the 4K HDR 60fps experience is restricted to playing through Chromecast Ultra for now, and unique multiplayer features – such as Stream Connect, which allows you to share your stream, or Crowd Play, allowing you to hop into a YouTuber's stream at their position – aren't ready yet.

While there are Xbox-style achievements to be earned through gameplay, they're not visible for now – although the system is reportedly storing them for when Stadia's achievements system goes live. That'll either be a nice surprise, or a frustration that something may have been irretrievably missed.

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Controller

Then, finally, we come to the one uniquely Stadia piece of kit – the controller. It's heavily modelled on the Xbox One controller, but slightly more rounded, similar to the Nintendo Switch Pro controller.

Its layout is essentially the same as both: four face buttons, two shoulder buttons, two triggers, two thumbsticks, and a d-pad. This makes it instantly familiar to use – useful when the software library consists almost exclusively of existing games – and comfortable to hold, although it's slightly back-heavy, making it feel like it's rolling forward in your hands. The d-pad is the worst element, not raised enough from the chassis and lacking defined points, but it's still serviceable, and its battery life is excellent – we've yet to have to charge it.

The official Stadia controller has a few tricks of its own, though. It's currently the only way you can take captures from your games, pictures or video, and the immediacy at which screencaps appear in your phone's Stadia app is impressive given it's all being done in the cloud.

There's also a built-in mic that will offer Google Assistant functionality – but like the aforementioned features, it's not available at launch. A 3.5mm jack provides direct headphone connectivity, but there's no option for bluetooth devices – a very strange choice, given Google's Pixel phones have dropped traditional headphones.

While the absence of Google Assistant can be overlooked for now – chances are, developers haven't yet had much chance to get to grips with how it would integrate with their games anyway – it is frustrating that the Stadia controller can only connect wirelessly to the Chromecast Ultra included with Stadia's Premiere Edition so far. On PC, phone, or laptop, you'll need to connect it to your device via USB cable – another hitch that makes us feel Stadia's overall launch is being slightly rushed.

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Verdict

However, the seed of what Stadia can offer when it all works – which is to say, when you have a stable connection – is firmly planted. In just a few days, it's already become the go-to for playing Destiny 2 at home on the main TV, a switch made easier by Bungie's recent introduction of cross-save functionality. Gylt is a great game, too, a promising start for the kind of talent Google can target for Stadia, if not a title that makes particular use of the platform.

Then there's the matter of consumer confusion – already, too many think Stadia will be the much-mythologised "Netflix for games", rather than a streaming storefront where you buy games on top of subscribing to the top-tier 4K service. If Google can better communicate that reality as it works to stabilise connectivity issues and makes Stadia accessible and viable on slower or mobile connections – or at least, keep the service going long enough for global internet infrastructure to improve around it – then the sheer convenience of being able to pick up a controller and be playing in seconds is tantalising.

The problem is, Stadia's not ready to leave the house – yet.

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