Google’s cloud gaming service, Stadia, has been exclusive to Pixel phones since its launch three months ago, but that’s changing this week. On February 20th, Stadia will hit 14 Samsung models, plus the Asus ROG Phone.
Here’s the full list of the 19 newly supported phones, which includes the Samsung Galaxy S20 line that’s releasing on March 6th:
Samsung Galaxy S8
Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus
Samsung Galaxy S8 Active
Samsung Galaxy Note 8
Samsung Galaxy S9
Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus
Samsung Galaxy Note 9
Samsung Galaxy S10
Samsung Galaxy S10E
Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus
Samsung Galaxy Note 10
Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus
Samsung Galaxy S20
Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus
Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra
Razer Phone
Razer Phone 2
Asus ROG Phone
Asus ROG Phone II
All of the freshly activated phones will work with wireless gamepads over Bluetooth except for the Stadia controller. As with Pixel phones, the Stadia gamepad will have to be plugged in. Google is working on a system that would allow the Stadia controller to connect to browsers and mobile devices via WiFi, rather than the standard Bluetooth connection. For now, the controller has to be wired for PC, laptop and mobile play, though it works wirelessly on the TV via Chromecast Ultra. Stadia’s iOS app doesn’t let you play games, though, so you will have to keep waiting if you want to play Stadia games on your iPhone or iPad.
“This is one of the items on our roadmap which is going to be launched shortly, but we’re actually using a very different approach with our controller, one that connects directly over WiFi to the data center,” Stadia’s head of gamer experience Andrey Doronichev said. “It doesn’t actually maintain a Bluetooth connection with a phone, which is a slightly different way of doing things and requires some extra work on both the app side and the controller side to make sure it works well.”
In January, Google promised to bring more than 120 games to the cloud gaming service in 2020, so there should be more content on Stadia throughout this year.
