Google Stadia will launch in November, in 14 different territories including the US, UK and Canada, with at least 31 games from 21 different publishers, for an initial “Founder’s Edition” price of $130 for a hardware starter kit with three months of premium service, and $10 a month afterwards. There’s a separate free tier coming in 2020.
The pack, available to pre-order now, will come with a Chromecast Ultra puck, limited-edition Night Blue controller, “first dibs” on a Stadia username, and two three-month Stadia Pro subscriptions — one for you and a friend. Stadia Pro will otherwise cost $9.99 per month and grants you access to Google’s library at up to 4K resolution and 60 frames per second, with HDR and 5.1 surround sound.
Google also announced its “first wave” of Stadia launch titles. These are: Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2, Doom Eternal, Doom (2016), Rage 2, The Elder Scrolls Online, Wolfenstein: Youngblood, Destiny 2, Get Packed, Grid, Metro Exodus, Thumper, Farming Simulator 19, Baldur’s Gate 3, Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid, Football Manager, Samurai Shodown, Final Fantasy XV, Tomb Raider Definitive Edition, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, NBA 2K, Borderlands 3, Gylt, Mortal Kombat 11, Darksiders Genesis, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Just Dance, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint, Tom Clancy’s The Division 2, Trials Rising, and The Crew 2.
Destiny 2 will come with the base game, all previous add-ons, the new Shadowkeep expansion and the annual pass. And, just as Kotaku reported yesterday, it will be possible to transfer your Guardian from a PC, Xbox One, or PlayStation 4 copy. All of these games will be joined by yet-to-be-announced software from Capcom, EA and Rockstar. An active Stadia Pro subscription will also give you “exclusive discounts on games for purchase,” Google explained, similar to PS Plus and Xbox Live Gold.
Google will offer a Stadia Base service next year that lets you buy and keep individual games. These purchases will be capped at 1080p resolution and 60 frames per second with stereo sound, however. Still, it could be a decent option if you already pay for a bunch of game-related subscriptions PS Plus, Xbox Game Pass, EA Access and the like and are unsure about going all-in on Stadia Pro.
Stadia will be available in the following countries at launch: US, Canada, UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland. You’ll be able to play through the aforementioned Chromecast Ultra, a regular Chrome browser on any computer, or a Pixel 3/3a smartphone. Google says the platform will be expanded “to other phones over time” and, presumably, other hardware.
