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Noah Davis 1 minutes ago
Here's why you can trust us.
Google Stadia review
Google Stadia offers impressive cloud...
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Harper Kim Member
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Here's why you can trust us.
Google Stadia review
Google Stadia offers impressive cloud gaming in an incomplete package
Google Stadia is novel, and potentially democratizing, but it's ultimately half-completed and full of inconveniences.
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Sofia Garcia 3 minutes ago
Pros
+
Game streaming usually works well+
Compatible with all controllers and most display...
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Lucas Martinez Moderator
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Pros
+
Game streaming usually works well+
Compatible with all controllers and most displays
Cons
-
Less stable performance, compared to PC or console-
Missing many promised features-
Limited smartphone compatibility-
Unambitious game lineup Why you can trust Tom's Guide Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.
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Sophie Martin 1 minutes ago
Update (Sept. 29, 2022): Google announced that it will shut down Stadia by January 18, 2023; all Sta...
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Amelia Singh 1 minutes ago
That's both praise and condemnation.Google Stadia - Key SpecsPlatforms: TV, computer, smartphone ...
Update (Sept. 29, 2022): Google announced that it will shut down Stadia by January 18, 2023; all Stadia hardware purchases made through the Google Store, and all game and add-on content purchases made through the Stadia store will be refunded. Google Stadia is just a little bit worse than using a gaming console.
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Amelia Singh 2 minutes ago
That's both praise and condemnation.Google Stadia - Key SpecsPlatforms: TV, computer, smartphone ...
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Madison Singh Member
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That's both praise and condemnation.Google Stadia - Key SpecsPlatforms: TV, computer, smartphone
Resolution: Up to 4K
Network Requirements: 35 Mbps (4K) / 10 Mbps (minimum)
Game Library: 40+
It's impressive that Google is able to stream big-budget games with few compromises, leveraging technology that people already own. On the other hand, it's disappointing that the experience comes with so many caveats.How to use Logitech G Hub
If game-streaming is really the future of gaming, Stadia is a good argument for letting the technology mature for at least another few years.
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Ava White 10 minutes ago
The moment-to-moment gameplay experience on Stadia isn't bad. It's usually a very smooth process, no...
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Andrew Wilson 7 minutes ago
TV, laptop and smartphone streaming all have bizarre (and different) limitations. A number of import...
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Natalie Lopez Member
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The moment-to-moment gameplay experience on Stadia isn't bad. It's usually a very smooth process, not noticeably different from playing a game on a console or moderately powerful PC. But the whole setup has a thousand small problems that nipped at my heels every time I thought I was finally getting into the Stadia groove.
The streaming was never as seamless as I wanted it to be.
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Harper Kim 29 minutes ago
TV, laptop and smartphone streaming all have bizarre (and different) limitations. A number of import...
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Julia Zhang Member
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TV, laptop and smartphone streaming all have bizarre (and different) limitations. A number of important features are still missing, with only vague hints of release timetables.
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Christopher Lee 14 minutes ago
My biggest takeaway from my Google Stadia review, though, is that I simply don't understand who need...
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Julia Zhang 3 minutes ago
But that need comes up less often than you might think in the course of an everyday routine.
I...
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Henry Schmidt Member
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My biggest takeaway from my Google Stadia review, though, is that I simply don't understand who needs it. The ability to play games anywhere, on any platform, is appealing - sure.
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Isabella Johnson 13 minutes ago
But that need comes up less often than you might think in the course of an everyday routine.
I...
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Sofia Garcia 22 minutes ago
But as a reality, it's just another way to play some extremely common and not terribly new video gam...
But that need comes up less often than you might think in the course of an everyday routine.
It's also appealing to think that aspiring gamers can now jump into big-budget mainstream titles without having to drop $300 on a console like the PS4 Pro or Xbox One X, or much more than that on one of the best gaming PCs. But is there really a huge audience that's been waiting breathlessly all these years to play Destiny, or Tomb Raider, or Just Dance, but is also unwilling to buy a gaming platform? As an experiment, Stadia is novel and potentially democratizing.
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Noah Davis 15 minutes ago
But as a reality, it's just another way to play some extremely common and not terribly new video gam...
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Thomas Anderson 4 minutes ago
The Stadia Founder's Edition package (or the Stadia Premiere Edition, if you missed out on the Found...
But as a reality, it's just another way to play some extremely common and not terribly new video games, but with a few extra perks and a lot of extra inconveniences.
Google Stadia review How it works
Normally, I'd begin a review by describing a product's hardware, but Stadia's whole pitch is that you don't need one particular type of hardware.
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Ryan Garcia 5 minutes ago
The Stadia Founder's Edition package (or the Stadia Premiere Edition, if you missed out on the Found...
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Aria Nguyen 1 minutes ago
That's because Stadia isn't a console. It's a platform for streaming games from the cloud....
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Evelyn Zhang Member
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The Stadia Founder's Edition package (or the Stadia Premiere Edition, if you missed out on the Founder's wave) comes with a Chromecast Ultra, a Stadia controller and some cables. That's it.
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Emma Wilson 19 minutes ago
That's because Stadia isn't a console. It's a platform for streaming games from the cloud....
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Sophie Martin Member
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That's because Stadia isn't a console. It's a platform for streaming games from the cloud.
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Amelia Singh 2 minutes ago
You can play Stadia titles on a TV, on a computer or on a smartphone, although there are limitations...
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Lucas Martinez 8 minutes ago
Google Stadia on a computer, as well as a smartphone (Image credit: Tom's Guide)
However, if you're ...
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Joseph Kim Member
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You can play Stadia titles on a TV, on a computer or on a smartphone, although there are limitations on all of these categories, as I'll discuss later. You buy whichever game you want to play from Google, then stream it right away. There's no initial download, no patching and no buffering - just instantaneous gameplay.
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Aria Nguyen 36 minutes ago
Google Stadia on a computer, as well as a smartphone (Image credit: Tom's Guide)
However, if you're ...
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Henry Schmidt 6 minutes ago
There is also a free "Stadia Base" service, which finally launched in April 2020, five months after ...
Google Stadia on a computer, as well as a smartphone (Image credit: Tom's Guide)
However, if you're wondering whether Stadia costs anything on top of the games themselves, that gets a little confusing.
Google offers a Stadia Pro subscription for $10 per month, which you'll need if you want to stream games in 4K resolution with 5.1 surround sound. A Stadia Pro subscription will also get you a complimentary game every now and then, as well as occasional discounts on other games.
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Grace Liu 9 minutes ago
There is also a free "Stadia Base" service, which finally launched in April 2020, five months after ...
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Scarlett Brown 13 minutes ago
Google Stadia review Setup
It's never fun to set up a new gaming system. Consoles require ...
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James Smith Moderator
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There is also a free "Stadia Base" service, which finally launched in April 2020, five months after Stadia itself. This made Stadia a tough sell at first for those without 4K TVs (particularly since 4K streaming was not available on PCs at launch, either), although the situation has improved since then.
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Elijah Patel 30 minutes ago
Google Stadia review Setup
It's never fun to set up a new gaming system. Consoles require ...
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Aria Nguyen Member
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Google Stadia review Setup
It's never fun to set up a new gaming system. Consoles require tedious updates and installations, and a new PC may be nothing but a handful of components until you cobble it together yourself. But even acknowledging those difficulties, the setup process for Stadia was one of the most confusing and irritating I've ever gone through.
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Noah Davis Member
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(Google reps explained to me that the level of complication was partially due to Stadia's pre-launch state, and that everyday users won't have as much trouble setting it up. I hope that the process is easier on launch day, but for posterity, I wanted to include my experience here.)
The contents of a Google Stadia Premiere box (Image credit: Google)
You need to grapple with three different systems to set up Google Stadia: a smartphone, a computer and a PC. To start, you'll install the Stadia app on your smartphone, then log in with your Google account.
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Audrey Mueller Member
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However, you can't purchase new games through the Stadia app. For that, you have to go to a PC (at least in pre-release; again, that could change at launch).
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Mason Rodriguez Member
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Then, and only then, can you activate the Stadia app on a Chromecast Ultra. But you can't simply link Stadia with the Chromecast Ultra, because the two systems won't automatically recognize one another.
A Google Stadia controller alongside a Chromecast Ultra (Image credit: Tom's Guide)
Instead, you have to launch a game, and then tell that game to start casting to the Chromecast. It's an unbelievably complicated process, and I'm still a little surprised I got it working through sheer trial and error.
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Amelia Singh 1 minutes ago
(I tapped on the "Help" links multiple times during the setup process, but they just led me to a gen...
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Isaac Schmidt Member
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(I tapped on the "Help" links multiple times during the setup process, but they just led me to a generic support page without specific answers or walk-throughs.)
Even after going through all that, you'll still have to link Stadia to the Chromecast separately once you're done with your first play session. There simply has to be an easier way to get Stadia up and running on TVs, computers and smartphones.
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Harper Kim 8 minutes ago
Google Stadia review Performance
Google Stadia lives or dies based on one criterion: Can i...
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Isaac Schmidt 12 minutes ago
Sitting in my bedroom, controller in hand, streaming Shadow of the Tomb Raider at 4K resolution, HDR...
Google Stadia lives or dies based on one criterion: Can it stream games seamlessly? The short answer is "yes." The longer answer is "yes, under ideal circumstances."
In either case, Stadia's performance is promising at worst, and impressive at best.
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Andrew Wilson 31 minutes ago
Sitting in my bedroom, controller in hand, streaming Shadow of the Tomb Raider at 4K resolution, HDR...
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Ella Rodriguez 58 minutes ago
Google Stadia running on a laptop (Image credit: Tom's Guide)
The first is a straightforward action/...
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Isabella Johnson Member
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Sitting in my bedroom, controller in hand, streaming Shadow of the Tomb Raider at 4K resolution, HDR color and 5.1 surround sound without a console anywhere in sight, I couldn't help but feel a little astounded. If this is the future of gaming, I could get used to it, at least on some level. Google gave me about half-a-dozen games to play while testing Stadia, and I spent most of my time with Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Gylt and Just Dance 2020.
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Dylan Patel Member
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Google Stadia running on a laptop (Image credit: Tom's Guide)
The first is a straightforward action/adventure game - a very "video game-y" video game, for lack of a better term. It was easy to play for hours on end, which meant it was easy to evaluate how Stadia works over a long period.
Gylt is currently Stadia's lone exclusive title, while Just Dance 2020 requires split-second accuracy for appropriate scoring.
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David Cohen 42 minutes ago
If Stadia lagged, even a little, Just Dance 2020 would make it obvious. First, Just Dance 2020 worke...
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Aria Nguyen 43 minutes ago
The game tracked my every clap, shimmy and twist, silently judging as I butchered some of the greate...
If Stadia lagged, even a little, Just Dance 2020 would make it obvious. First, Just Dance 2020 worked beautifully, even though it requires a smartphone controller, which created a kind of wireless daisy chain that had the potential to go very wrong.
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Madison Singh 10 minutes ago
The game tracked my every clap, shimmy and twist, silently judging as I butchered some of the greate...
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Isabella Johnson 59 minutes ago
This colorful, unsettling game, about a young girl whose real-world fears begin to take on a paranor...
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The game tracked my every clap, shimmy and twist, silently judging as I butchered some of the greatest pop hits of the past few decades. But the fault, dear reader, was not in the Stadia, but in myself - the Stadia ran the game at a seamless 1080p, just as smoothly as if I'd been using a console. Gylt performed similarly well.
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Madison Singh 8 minutes ago
This colorful, unsettling game, about a young girl whose real-world fears begin to take on a paranor...
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Victoria Lopez 2 minutes ago
Shadow of the Tomb Raider is where I started to notice slight problems with Stadia - and they were a...
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Jack Thompson Member
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This colorful, unsettling game, about a young girl whose real-world fears begin to take on a paranormal bent, ran well in both 1080p and 4K. I was particularly impressed with the game's rich and robust color palette, juxtaposing the bright reds of Sally's outfit and the yellows of her flashlight beam with the deep blues, blacks and grays of the frightening world around her.
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Luna Park 26 minutes ago
Shadow of the Tomb Raider is where I started to notice slight problems with Stadia - and they were a...
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Christopher Lee Member
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Shadow of the Tomb Raider is where I started to notice slight problems with Stadia - and they were at least partially due to my own connection. But it did highlight a much bigger issue with Stadia: There's no way to optimize your connection; at least not on a TV. This can be a pretty significant problem, depending on how fast your connection is and whether you want to use Stadia without an Ethernet cable.
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Henry Schmidt 20 minutes ago
Here's my issue: When I played Shadow of the Tomb Raider on a 1080p TV, the performance was extremel...
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Ella Rodriguez 16 minutes ago
But the framerate was excellent (60 frames per second, or thereabouts), and the game didn't slow dow...
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Amelia Singh Moderator
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Here's my issue: When I played Shadow of the Tomb Raider on a 1080p TV, the performance was extremely smooth, even though the graphics sometimes had a blurry, washed-out quality that has never been present when I've played Tomb Raider on consoles. The background textures, in particular, were not very distinct.
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Grace Liu Member
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But the framerate was excellent (60 frames per second, or thereabouts), and the game didn't slow down, even during firefights or graphically intense chase sequences. That all changed when I moved over to a 4K TV, far enough away from my router so that I couldn't run an Ethernet cable to the Chromecast Ultra.
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Joseph Kim 51 minutes ago
My connection was strong enough to get 4K resolution most of the time, but when it wasn't, it was no...
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Daniel Kumar 48 minutes ago
However, as I said, I can't hold Stadia responsible for my connection. I thought I would just thrott...
My connection was strong enough to get 4K resolution most of the time, but when it wasn't, it was noticeable.
The audio would start to desync, particularly in scenes where Lara had to navigate cluttered environments or contend with a lot of enemies in the same space. Listening to the game's dialogue as if it's playing on a skipping record is not the ideal way to experience this otherwise decent adventure.
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Christopher Lee 57 minutes ago
However, as I said, I can't hold Stadia responsible for my connection. I thought I would just thrott...
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Oliver Taylor 50 minutes ago
None of these offered an appropriate solution. I had much more consistent experiences when I played ...
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Daniel Kumar Member
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However, as I said, I can't hold Stadia responsible for my connection. I thought I would just throttle the connection to 1080p resolution, but there's no way to do that.
The "connection" tab simply tells you how strong your internet signal is, while the "Data usage and performance" tab in the mobile app gives you only three options: Best visual quality (up to 4K), Balanced (let Stadia determine optimal conditions - which is what was causing the problem in the first place) or Limited data usage, which caps things at 720p.
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Emma Wilson Admin
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None of these offered an appropriate solution. I had much more consistent experiences when I played games on a computer, or on a smartphone, provided that I had a strong Wi-Fi signal. But while it's impressive to play something like Mortal Kombat 11 on a tiny screen, it's not a great way to experience a game intended for a living-room screen - or at least a PC monitor.
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Emma Wilson 21 minutes ago
Even then, I experienced occasional stutters and framerate inconsistencies on both PC and smartphone...
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Natalie Lopez 17 minutes ago
The launch library generally comprised titles that had already been out for some time on other syste...
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Sofia Garcia Member
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Even then, I experienced occasional stutters and framerate inconsistencies on both PC and smartphone.
Google Stadia review Games library
Google Stadia had 22 games available at launch, and over the past few months, we've gotten about 20 more titles.
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David Cohen 71 minutes ago
The launch library generally comprised titles that had already been out for some time on other syste...
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Christopher Lee 46 minutes ago
Upcoming titles, such as Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order have also been out on other platforms for a wh...
The launch library generally comprised titles that had already been out for some time on other systems, including Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Destiny 2, Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Mortal Kombat 11.
Since then, Stadia releases have generally followed the same pattern, as the platform has added hit games from the last few years. These include Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2, Octopath Traveler and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds.
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Alexander Wang 30 minutes ago
Upcoming titles, such as Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order have also been out on other platforms for a wh...
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Christopher Lee 20 minutes ago
You don't really need it, but if you choose to pick one up, it's no worse than any other major contr...
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Oliver Taylor Member
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Upcoming titles, such as Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order have also been out on other platforms for a while.
There are a handful of timed exclusives planned, such as Lost Worlds: Beyond the Page, and a true exclusive: Orcs Must Die 3. Beyond that, the Stadia library has grown slowly, and looks like it will continue to do so in the near term.
Google Stadia review Controller
One thing about Google Stadia that works just fine is its controller.
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Henry Schmidt Member
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You don't really need it, but if you choose to pick one up, it's no worse than any other major controller. It's got four face buttons, two analog sticks, a D-pad, a few buttons for options and navigation, and two shoulder triggers on each side. The gadget costs $69 by itself, which is pretty steep as these things go, but not unheard of.
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Ryan Garcia 30 minutes ago
A Google Stadia controller (Image credit: Tom's Guide)
The analog sticks are on the same plane and t...
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Elijah Patel 64 minutes ago
The controller feels a bit heavier than competing peripherals: 9.5 ounces, compared with 7.4 ounces ...
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Zoe Mueller Member
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A Google Stadia controller (Image credit: Tom's Guide)
The analog sticks are on the same plane and the D-pad is off to the side, similar to the DualShock 4, but the controller's overall shape is much more similar to an Xbox One - or Switch Pro - peripheral. There's also a 3.5 mm audio port on the bottom so you can connect your favorite pair of headphones.
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Daniel Kumar Member
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The controller feels a bit heavier than competing peripherals: 9.5 ounces, compared with 7.4 ounces for the DualShock 4, for example. But overall, it's a comfortable, intelligently designed accessory.
It's also optional: You can simply bring your own controller. Anything with a Bluetooth connection will do, including newer Xbox One controllers, DualShock 4s, Switch Pro controllers and just about any Android controller you can think of.
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Evelyn Zhang 29 minutes ago
However, at present, only the Stadia controller works with the Chromecast Ultra; if you bring your o...
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David Cohen Member
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However, at present, only the Stadia controller works with the Chromecast Ultra; if you bring your own peripheral, you can play only on a computer or smartphone. That's a pretty big limitation for a system that prides itself on leveraging hardware you already own.
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Emma Wilson Admin
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I didn't have any trouble connecting an Xbox One or a PS4 controller, although I was a little disappointed to discover that the DualShock 4's attractive lighting doesn't activate on a standard Bluetooth connection. One cool thing about the Stadia controller is that you can use it to boot up Stadia on the Chromecast.
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Mason Rodriguez 17 minutes ago
You can bypass your smartphone entirely. That's very cool, and I'm not familiar with any other perip...
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Harper Kim Member
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You can bypass your smartphone entirely. That's very cool, and I'm not familiar with any other peripherals that let you interact with a Chromecast without a mobile device or computer.
Google Stadia review Limitations
I didn't have one "big issue" with Google Stadia; I had a cavalcade of smaller issues.
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Madison Singh 51 minutes ago
It seems that every possible configuration only half works, and that you'll need to make a lot of co...
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Chloe Santos Moderator
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It seems that every possible configuration only half works, and that you'll need to make a lot of compromises to get your game running exactly as you want it. For example, suppose you get home from work and want to kick back with some Shadow of the Tomb Raider on your TV without bothering the rest of your family.
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Jack Thompson Member
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You'll need to either plug in a set of analog headphones or hope that your TV itself supports Bluetooth; there are no 2.4 GHz wireless options as Xbox One, PS4 and PC offer. So let's say that you decide to play it on your PC instead. That's fine.
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James Smith 76 minutes ago
But if you bring your Stadia controller along, you'd better have a USB cable to go with it. You can'...
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Elijah Patel 89 minutes ago
Google Stadia running on a smartphone, with a clip and wire (Image credit: Tom's Guide)
But if TV an...
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Alexander Wang Member
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But if you bring your Stadia controller along, you'd better have a USB cable to go with it. You can't connect the Stadia controller wirelessly to anything except a Chromecast Ultra at present. And no, you can't use Stadia with a regular Chromecast at all, even if you want to play at 1080p.
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Andrew Wilson 24 minutes ago
Google Stadia running on a smartphone, with a clip and wire (Image credit: Tom's Guide)
But if TV an...
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Kevin Wang 40 minutes ago
While the functionality has trickled down to some other Android phones, it's a haphazard selection, ...
Google Stadia running on a smartphone, with a clip and wire (Image credit: Tom's Guide)
But if TV and PC provide too many roadblocks, playing on a smartphone isn't necessarily any better. First, Stadia was available only on Pixel 2, 3, 3a and 4 smartphones at launch.
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Audrey Mueller 87 minutes ago
While the functionality has trickled down to some other Android phones, it's a haphazard selection, ...
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Harper Kim 48 minutes ago
Then there's the "claw" smartphone grip, which is difficult to attach and even worse to take apart. ...
While the functionality has trickled down to some other Android phones, it's a haphazard selection, and it's unclear when other platforms will become available. Even then, you'll need a USB-C cable, since the Stadia controller doesn't work wirelessly with smartphones yet, either.
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Madison Singh 117 minutes ago
Then there's the "claw" smartphone grip, which is difficult to attach and even worse to take apart. ...
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Evelyn Zhang Member
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Then there's the "claw" smartphone grip, which is difficult to attach and even worse to take apart. Google Stadia running on a smartphone (Image credit: Tom's Guide)
There's also the game selection. The system very nearly launched with a paltry 12 games - most of which you've already had the opportunity to play.
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Daniel Kumar 48 minutes ago
Gylt is the only exclusive title, and while it's not terrible, it's not what I'd call a system-selle...
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Jack Thompson Member
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Gylt is the only exclusive title, and while it's not terrible, it's not what I'd call a system-seller, either. However, at the last minute, Google added 10 games, including the first two rebooted Tomb Raiders, Final Fantasy XV, Farming Simulator 2019 and Wolfenstein: Youngblood.
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Lucas Martinez 36 minutes ago
It's a better lineup, although still stuff that's been out for months, or sometimes years. There are...
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Isabella Johnson 39 minutes ago
At present, just about everything about the experience of playing games on a console or PC is better...
It's a better lineup, although still stuff that's been out for months, or sometimes years. There are three ways to play Stadia right now, and all of them are kind of a pain. These features will improve over time, but "everything will be better later" seems to be one of the big themes with Stadia.
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Liam Wilson Member
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At present, just about everything about the experience of playing games on a console or PC is better.
Google Stadia review Price
If you want the standard Google Stadia package, you'll need to dish out $129 for the Premiere Edition.
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Nathan Chen 2 minutes ago
This includes a Chromecast Ultra, a Stadia Controller and a three-month subscription for Stadia Pro,...
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Lily Watson 10 minutes ago
Stadia's free tier, Stadia Base, is finally up and running, five months after Stadia launched. This ...
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Madison Singh Member
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This includes a Chromecast Ultra, a Stadia Controller and a three-month subscription for Stadia Pro, which includes some complimentary games.
You can also subscribe to Stadia Pro by itself. The service costs $10 per month, and gives players the ability to play Stadia titles in 4K resolution, with 5.1 surround sound. It will also confer discounts on certain games, as well as the occasional free title.
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Mia Anderson 3 minutes ago
Stadia's free tier, Stadia Base, is finally up and running, five months after Stadia launched. This ...
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Lily Watson 48 minutes ago
However, the streaming quality will cap out at 1080p. No matter which version of Stadia you get, you...
Stadia's free tier, Stadia Base, is finally up and running, five months after Stadia launched. This lets players buy and play whichever Stadia games they want, without any overhead fees.
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Isaac Schmidt Member
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However, the streaming quality will cap out at 1080p. No matter which version of Stadia you get, you'll have to buy games individually. They range between $30 and $60, although they could get cheaper or more expensive in the future.
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Sebastian Silva 182 minutes ago
Google Stadia review Bottom line
This is the phrase that's kept cycling through my head: "...
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Ava White 198 minutes ago
The ability to take my games anywhere was not incredibly helpful, either. Stadia games require an in...
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Lucas Martinez Moderator
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Google Stadia review Bottom line
This is the phrase that's kept cycling through my head: "I wish I were playing on a console."
When it's firing on all cylinders, Stadia works fine. But when it's not, it introduces a whole host of problems that traditional gaming systems simply don't have.
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Mia Anderson 94 minutes ago
The ability to take my games anywhere was not incredibly helpful, either. Stadia games require an in...
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Charlotte Lee 82 minutes ago
That means you can't use Stadia on a cellular data network, and you can't use it on a subway. You al...
The ability to take my games anywhere was not incredibly helpful, either. Stadia games require an internet connection, and massive amounts of data: anywhere between 4.5 GB and 15 GB per hour.
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Julia Zhang 93 minutes ago
That means you can't use Stadia on a cellular data network, and you can't use it on a subway. You al...
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Amelia Singh Moderator
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That means you can't use Stadia on a cellular data network, and you can't use it on a subway. You almost certainly can't use it on a bus, plane or any other location with slow, crowded Wi-Fi.
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Noah Davis Member
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Even using it at a hotel might be troublesome.
I would wager that every traveler has some kind of horror story about a vital email message not sending when it needed to. I can't imagine that most hotel networks would treat a data hog like Stadia any better.
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Sophie Martin Member
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But maybe Stadia isn't really for traveling. Maybe it's just for playing games on any screen in your house. Still, you can already do roughly the same thing with a PS4 or an Xbox One through their Remote Play and Play Anywhere features, respectively.
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Lily Watson 61 minutes ago
(To be fair, you can't stream Xbox games to a smartphone screen.)
Google Stadia running on a TV with...
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Sophia Chen 113 minutes ago
It occurred to me while playing that Stadia is the germ of a great idea, but insisting that games mu...
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Alexander Wang Member
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(To be fair, you can't stream Xbox games to a smartphone screen.)
Google Stadia running on a TV with two controllers (Image credit: Google)
The biggest strike against Stadia, though, is that streaming games instead of downloading them doesn't offer many advantages. True, you never have to wait for installation or patches, but these are infrequent occurrences, and if your connection is good enough for Stadia, it should also be good enough to download games fairly quickly.
You can indeed play games without a console or a gaming-quality PC, but if you're starting from scratch, it still costs $129 for a Chromecast Ultra and a Stadia controller. Throw in a $60 game, and you're within spitting distance of a starter console.
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Liam Wilson 74 minutes ago
It occurred to me while playing that Stadia is the germ of a great idea, but insisting that games mu...
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In the meantime, Stadia works and has the potential to work well. But it's missing many of its most ...
It occurred to me while playing that Stadia is the germ of a great idea, but insisting that games must be all-streaming, all the time feels a little limiting. I would much rather have the option to download a game on a PC or a console and still be able to stream it to less-powerful devices, like smartphones and streaming boxes. That would be the best of both worlds, and indeed, Microsoft's Project xCloud seems to aim for such a system.
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In the meantime, Stadia works and has the potential to work well. But it's missing many of its most ...
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In the meantime, Stadia works and has the potential to work well. But it's missing many of its most important features, and I'm still not convinced that game-streaming is necessary or convenient.
If Stadia sticks around for a few years, it has the potential to get better. If not, it will not be Google's first project that didn't work out.
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Marshall HonorofMarshall Honorof is a senior editor for Tom's Guide, overseeing the site's coverage of gaming hardware and software. He comes from a science writing background, having studied paleomammalogy, biological anthropology, and the history of science and technology.
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How to watch T20 World Cup 2022 - live stream every game online right nowSee more latest ► See all comments (1) 1 Comment Comment from the forums TheKLF99 I decided to try stadia with my Google One account with their 3 month offer. A month after signing up totally unimpressed by it. It really does have a lot of work to do to get it right.
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Sophie Martin 42 minutes ago
We are in a rural area and recently we switched from PlusNet's mediocre 2mbps broadband to Airband w...
We are in a rural area and recently we switched from PlusNet's mediocre 2mbps broadband to Airband which works at about 50mbps. Now with this new speed we have no problem doing most things - we can watch Apple TV 4K, play Playstation Now, Games Pass, stream games between friends in at least 1080p (sometimes we even get up to 4K when no-one else is using the internet to watch something like Disney+)...
So I thought I'd give Stadia a go and see what that's like - sounds quite awesome - latest console games streaming... erm...
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Sofia Garcia Member
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yeah ok... the entire system is awful.
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Madison Singh 290 minutes ago
Every few seconds I get a nag screen telling me my internet isn't stable and so I might get booted o...
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Harper Kim 106 minutes ago
It's hard enough trying to control a guy who looks like he's had one too many down the local boozer ...
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Christopher Lee Member
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Sunday, 04 May 2025
Every few seconds I get a nag screen telling me my internet isn't stable and so I might get booted off - and this is only at 720p - then at regular occasions either the screen freezes or the audio freezes. Just recently trying to play Human : Fall Flat on it was an interesting experience.
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Emma Wilson 37 minutes ago
It's hard enough trying to control a guy who looks like he's had one too many down the local boozer ...
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Lucas Martinez Moderator
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It's hard enough trying to control a guy who looks like he's had one too many down the local boozer and keeps falling on his backside, without having to also put up with the screen freezing every few seconds and a broken audio track.
I thought maybe it's because I'm going through WiFi so I went downstairs to the Mac Mini which is hard-wired into the router via ethernet - exactly the same experience.
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Alexander Wang 135 minutes ago
Did a test on my internet speed - according to my test it seems to fluctuate between 30-50mbps with ...
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Grace Liu 127 minutes ago
I don't know why but the main controller I have on my PC will not work at all with Stadia. It's a wi...
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Victoria Lopez Member
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Sunday, 04 May 2025
Did a test on my internet speed - according to my test it seems to fluctuate between 30-50mbps with an average of about 40mbps. All other streaming services work absolutely fine - Playstation Now, Games Pass, etc...
Then we also get to controllers - they seem to claim that "all controllers" work with Stadia.
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Joseph Kim 265 minutes ago
I don't know why but the main controller I have on my PC will not work at all with Stadia. It's a wi...
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Lily Watson 167 minutes ago
It's very strange as this controller works fine on all other PC games, works just like a PS4 gamepad...
I don't know why but the main controller I have on my PC will not work at all with Stadia. It's a wired USB mini PS4 gamepad made by a company called HORI.
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Sophia Chen 21 minutes ago
It's very strange as this controller works fine on all other PC games, works just like a PS4 gamepad...
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Henry Schmidt 1 minutes ago
The only way I could get Stadia to recognise it was by using JoyToKey and setting it up to emulate k...
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Charlotte Lee Member
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Sunday, 04 May 2025
It's very strange as this controller works fine on all other PC games, works just like a PS4 gamepad on the PS4 - the only thing it's missing on the PS4 is the lights, rumble and touchpad as it's only a mini-game controller. But on Stadia - nothing - it's USB and even Windows joystick control panel recognises it - I've tried it on both Mac, Desktop PC and Laptop but absolutely no recognition by Stadia.
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Ethan Thomas 65 minutes ago
The only way I could get Stadia to recognise it was by using JoyToKey and setting it up to emulate k...
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Ryan Garcia Member
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Sunday, 04 May 2025
The only way I could get Stadia to recognise it was by using JoyToKey and setting it up to emulate keyboard/mouse controls. I know it's only a cheap Chinese PS4 clone gamepad but I don't understand why all other devices recognise it except Stadia - surely Stadia should just take the information it's receiving from Windows regardless of the joystick - I even tested the joystick in Unity and it works fine in that too.
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Victoria Lopez Member
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I know in the settings it says you have to press a certain button combination to sync the joystick - but even that does nothing. I also tried plugging it into a mobile phone and using it via stadia on a Motorola One Vision - again nothing - and again on the phone the joystick works fine in games like Assassin's Creed - but not in Stadia.
Stadia is an interesting concept but it does need a lot more work to make it viable - maybe when internet speeds improve in the future it might work better (then again 50mbps should be fast enough at least for 720p!) Or maybe Google should look into the codecs they're using for streaming and use more efficient codecs like things like Disney+ and Apple TV are using (Apple Arcade works much better than Stadia and also works with my joystick - and is even thrown in with Apple One subscribers!).
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