Google Stadia Premiere Edition - White

Product Information

For this test, we tried something that we knew would look good on a 4K HDR TV - Destiny 2 - Cast from the Stadia app on our phone to Chromecast Ultra in the living room. Despite our reservations, Destiny 2 ran in 4K/60 without any issues on a 50Mbps wireless connection with no noticeable delays or artifacting - even in particularly intense firefights. A gaming platform is nothing without a great selection of games, and Google Stadia has a number of major games — even a few timed exclusive titles like Crayta, Orcs Must Die 3, and more. Even if you do meet the speed requirements, you’ll need to be careful if you have a data cap. Cloud gaming chews through a lot of data, especially when gaming at 4K resolution. Here’s what you can expect: Destiny 2 was rough, which is strange, given that it looked better than Tomb Raider. Although the movement felt responsive, the moment we fired a gun, everything fell apart. There are three factors when firing a gun in Destiny 2 with Stadia: the vibration of the controller, the on-screen animation and the sound. Perhaps Google will be able to fix the lag with an update to the controller that optimizes the connection to the Chromecast, but for now, we can't recommend using Stadia to play games on a TV with a Chromecast Ultra. This also means that while the Stadia controller feels very good, we can't recommend the Premiere Edition unless you simply want a Chromecast Ultra for media streaming, completely separate from any Stadia gaming.

On a 150Mbps hard-wired connection, Stadia is amazing - it’s like playing a game stored locally on your PC. There is a lot of fear and uncertainty surrounding Stadia due to its horrible launch that Google has already given up and is just biding time before dropping it completely — just like it did Daydream and countless other experiments. Hopefully, that's not the case. Our wired testing was done using the Chromecast that came in the Premiere Edition. However, we also tested on WiFi using a keyboard and mouse with Stadia loaded inside of Google Chrome. Strangely, the performance was better in Destiny 2 when playing this way, though the visuals took a significant hit.

Google announced that Stadia will shut down on January 18, 2023. You will likely be able to move games you own on Stadia to PC through Ubisoft Connect. Cloudwards.net will not longer be updating this article. Google Stadia is set to launch this November but a solid date is yet to be confirmed. When pressed, a Google rep told me that it would be ready to "share a specific date soon" and that we will "have to wait to see why" we haven't received that information already. Google also confirmed that the Stadia Premiere Edition will ship shortly after the Founders Edition bundle – giving Founders the opportunity to secure their Stadia Name – and that the Premiere Edition bundle will be the "the new version of Stadia that we're going to have for the foreseeable future". Stadia is not like other cloud gaming platforms in that it doesn’t integrate with DRMs like Steam or Origin. Rather than bringing an existing library of games, as you would with Shadow (read our Shadow review and Google Stadia vs Shadow comparison), Stadia is much more akin to a service like PlayStation Now, where the library of games is curated for you (read our PlayStation Now review). At least, that’s the goal. In this Google Stadia review, we’re going to take a look at the Premiere Edition to see where the service delivers and where it falls behind.

I’ve been PCMag’s home entertainment expert for over 10 years, covering both TVs and everything you might want to connect to them. I’ve reviewed more than a thousand different consumer electronics products including headphones, speakers, TVs, and every major game system and VR headset of the last decade. I’m an ISF-certified TV calibrator and a THX-certified home theater professional, and I’m here to help you understand 4K, HDR, Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos, and even 8K (and to reassure you that you don’t need to worry about 8K at all for at least a few more years). Google plans to add wireless support for the Stadia controller on other devices besides the Chromecast Ultra in early 2020. If you use a compatible Bluetooth controller to play games on Stadia, they currently work wirelessly. Again, there was a minor delay when the game is buffering at the very beginning and we did notice a small half-second delay between an on-screen action (like firing a gun) to the sound effect actually playing on the TV, but there was no impact on the gameplay.Graphical quality via the Chromecast Ultra is generally strong but can vary, and seems almost completely separate from the control lag. Destiny 2 and Mortal Kombat 11 look fairly clear, but occasionally experience a dip in detail or develop artifacts, similar to playing in a Chrome tab. Shadow of the Tomb Raider looks surprisingly excellent, with the High Resolution mode indeed pushing the game to what appears to be a sharp 4K, and the High Framerate mode looking like a very smooth 60 frames per second. As with the Tomb Raider games on the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X, you need to choose between those modes on Stadia; there is no catchall 4K60 mode. I'm of the mind that Stadia can absolutely live alongside PlayStation, Nintendo, and Microsoft in the gaming space because it offers just enough that's different to be its own thing. Sometimes games will come to Stadia that aren't on consoles, like Baldur's Gate 3, and other times games will just run better than they do on consoles, like Cyberpunk 2077. Having the flexibility of keyboard and mouse, or gamepad, or even phone touchscreen options to play anywhere is a huge benefit, like with Elder Scrolls Online.

Finally, you can play on your TV, through a Chromecast Ultra. Plug the Chromecast into your TV, set it up, pair your Stadia controller with it, then pair it with your Stadia account through the Stadia app. Once that's done, the Chromecast Ultra works like a microconsole, powering up and entering the Stadia menu when you turn the Stadia controller on. It should be noted that Stadia doesn't work with any other Chromecast device. If you want to use the controller with your phone, tablet, Chromebook, or PC, you need to use a cable; Stadia currently has no method of pairing the controller wirelessly with anything besides a Chromecast Ultra. Google sent us a phone clip and a short USB-C-to-USB-C cable for testing, but if you're just buying the controller or Premiere Edition and want to play Stadia on your phone, you'll have to supply your own USB-C-to-USB-C cable or the appropriate USB-C adapter for your mobile device. If you’re using the official controller on your smartphone, Google has a fun accessory you can buy to help out: the Power Support Claw. The Claw snaps onto your controller and then you can clip your phone in to enjoy an all-in-one gaming experience.The horror game is said to be heavily inspired by the fan-favorite Resident Evil 4--though it's also gotten the very meme-able Lady Dimitrescu for good measure. Capcom recently released PC system specs for the upcoming game and warned eager players not to fall for an apparent phishing scam. Naturally if you ever cancel the Stadia subscription, the kit is still yours to keep. And games are always available to buy and play, regardless of whether you have a Stadia Pro subscription or not. That being said, if you do keep it active you’ll be able to share your games with friends and family, which might make you quite popular. Especially if they also get to claim the free equipment. There was some really good stuff - like Red Dead Redemption 2 and Mortal Kombat 11 - plus some games that are probably less appealing to folks like Just Dance 2020.Stadia had some exclusives in its collection, including a child’s first horror game called GYLT. It also hosts highly anticipated titles like Watch Dogs Legion, Baldur’s Gate 3, Marvel’s Avengers, and Cyberpunk 2077. Expanding all categories of games content - not just more games overall, but new types of games that we’ve heard players ask for, including genres like online action games, open world titles, plus free games, trials and demos.