Today marks the 70th day that the Google Stadia was "released" to early adopters and man, what an absolute mess it's been. Even when compared to most other Google launch disasters, the Stadia launch has been exceptionally bad. A post on the r/Stadia by user Gizoogle outlines just how much Google has completely bungled the launch of this new platform.
The Reddit post in question has already surpassed 8,600 upvotes in the Stadia section and a whopping 12.3K votes in r/Games since being posted just one day ago. One of the biggest takeaways from the post is the fact that "Stadia has officially gone 40 days without a new game announcement or release, feature update, or real community update."
40 days of nothing for a brand-new platform launch is downright pathetic. 40 days of nothing for a product that has been out for a little over two months cost early adopters $130.
The Reddit post was brought up now because, as Gizoogle pointed out in their post, the earliest adopters are nearing the end of their 3-month free trial to Stadia Pro. Their post seems to be used to give Stadia owners a bit of perspective and perhaps give them some pause when it comes time to potentially renewing what will become a $10 per month recurring subscription.
Some of the other major issues mentioned in the post include the fact that there is still over two months to go before 4K is possible through a web browser, still over two months to go for "any Assistant functionality at all," and also over two months to go before there is "true wireless controller functionality" as was advertised months ahead of Stadia's release.
The user continues on to voice their disappointment in not having a single idea what future game releases are coming to Stadia. They note that Google said that they were "tracking" 120 titles. This is not saying that 120 games are confirmed for Stadia, only that they are tracking them.
Continuing on, the post notes that so far only Pixel phones are still the only Android powered mobile devices that have Stadia functionality. There has also been zero mention of iOS devices, the launch of the "free" Stadia Base service, and still no mention of family sharing functionality. To be fair, playing Stadia through iOS was never explicitly promised either now or in the future. All Google has said was that support would be expanded to "select" devices.
Communication from Google has been lacking. At least, that's what was said in the Reddit post. According to users, it has not been made very clear that Google has been listening to the community in any capacity. Not only that, but apparently the daily updates from Google turned into weekly updates, which then turned into bi-monthly updates, if that. As if to emphasize that remark, Gizoogle notes how they still do not know what the free game for February will be.
Amusingly, as if to prove at least one of their points wrong, Google announced what the free games for February 2020 will be for Stadia Pro users. Those games are Gylt and Metro Exodus. They are also keeping up the previous free releases from
Stadia launched on November 19, 2019. Users that wanted the platform early had to spend $130 for the privilege of essentially being pre-release testers.
There is a little bit of additional good news here though. Since the thread initially went live in r/Stadia, an official Community Manager, Grace, offered up a reply, calling the complaints "completely valid."
Hey everyone, thanks for taking the time to write out your thoughts, and don't worry I'll make sure this post doesn't get removed.
All the concerns you've brought to the table are completely valid, and I understand where your frustrations are coming from. Nobody likes to be left in the dark. While I don't have product updates to share right at this second, I can promise you that I have been, and will continue taking feedback posted to r/Stadia and other channels, like the Stadia Community Forum, back to the Stadia team.
As always, thanks for your patience. Keep these notes coming. I'll be jotting them down as they come in~
All the concerns you've brought to the table are completely valid, and I understand where your frustrations are coming from. Nobody likes to be left in the dark. While I don't have product updates to share right at this second, I can promise you that I have been, and will continue taking feedback posted to r/Stadia and other channels, like the Stadia Community Forum, back to the Stadia team.
As always, thanks for your patience. Keep these notes coming. I'll be jotting them down as they come in~
However i don't really want to defend it because i'm against the entire concept of it, not to mention the company behind it, the threat of PC exclusivities, and that they're accepting money for it, which kind of makes it a fully available product and not a test.
...which is really all too common with new Google launches. Even as someone really invested in the Google ecosystem, even down to my Pixel phone, I still had about zero faith in this thing before launch. Still don't. They just aren't all that great at sticking with most new products/services for meaningful lengths of time, which is why I doubt things are going to get drastically better for Stadia.
I'll be happy to be proven wrong, but I'm not going to hold my breath for it.