The next ASUS ROG Phone will come pre-loaded with Stadia

We may earn a commission for purchases made using our links.

Google’s Stadia is one of the most high-profile cloud game streaming services. Its competitors include NVIDIA’s GeForce Now, Microsoft’s Xbox Live, and Sony’s PlayStation Now. The paid version of Stadia (Stadia Founders’ Edition) launched in November 2019 for the Google Chrome browser, the Google Pixel phones, and any Chromecast-connected TV. It received its fair share of criticism as many reviewers didn’t find the performance to be satisfactory, and a few features were missing. The service is also limited to only a few developed markets. However, the premise of Stadia still remains enticing for those users who don’t have gaming consoles or a gaming PC. A free version of the service is also scheduled to release this year. While the Google Pixel-only limitation proved to be a limiting factor for Stadia’s adoption on smartphones, this is set to change this week as many more phones are now compatible with it, including Samsung’s Galaxy flagship phones, and a few gaming phones from the likes of ASUS and Razer. Now, ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) has announced a partnership between Stadia and the ROG Phone.

ASUS states that the Stadia app will be pre-loaded onto every next-generation ROG Phone in participating territories. The next-generation ROG Phone will release in 2020 as the successor of the ASUS ROG Phone II. The Stadia partnership with ROG covers the following territories: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, and the United States. The partnership runs until 2021.

ASUS notes that with Stadia, users can stream the latest games via Wi-Fi directly to any ROG Phone, including the upcoming next-generation ROG Phone, without needing to download them. (Users still need to buy the games.) Stadia supports gaming at up to 4K at 60fps, with HDR and 5.1-channel surround sound support. It’s a good match for the hardware of the ROG Phones. According to ASUS, it cements the position of the ROG Phone as the most desirable gaming phone on the planet. While a lot of this is marketing speak, ASUS did achieve first-mover status here, as competitors such as the Nubia Red Magic series and the Black Shark series haven’t announced any partnerships with Stadia yet.

We don’t know much about the upcoming next-generation ROG Phone (ROG Phone III) yet. It’s a certainty that it will have the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 SoC, though, as most flagship Android phones this year will have the chip. It can also be expected to have a big 120Hz display and a 6,000mAh battery, just like its predecessor.