Google Stadia Review

Last year, the announcement of Google Stadia brought to many feelings of excitement and of a new evolution to the gaming world. The ability to buy a game once and then play it on any screen anywhere (as long as you had a decent enough internet connection), with no need to worry about installations, updates and patching, or any of that nonsense – you just click and play.

In June, shortly after its announcement, I bought into the hype and purchased the Founder’s Edition kit so I could immediately start taking advantage of this new platform. As the month’s progressed, between long periods of no news or vague descriptions of the service offerings, the promises of what Stadia would offer were repeatedly dialed back and features were stripped away, many of which were promised to be “coming soon” or in the near future. By the time November arrived, the service that was being offered was not nearly as fulfilling as the original descriptions, but I felt it would still meet my gaming needs and be a cheaper option than buying consoles and continuously upgrading PC components, so I kept my order.

We are now two months post-launch, and I have waited to share my thoughts so that I could provide a more wholesome view of my experience instead of rushing to judgement over the course of a couple of days.

My experience with Stadia has been frustrating to say the least. When at home and playing through my Chromecasts the experience is amazing; the games look gorgeous, there is no noticeable lag, and the games play just like if they were being processed locally.

That is where the positives end. Playing elsewhere, outside of the house and traveling, has been nothing short of a nightmare.

The promise of being able to play on “any screen” anywhere was drastically cutback prior to the launch of the service, down to PCs with Chrome or Pixel phones. Playing on my iPhone was no longer going to be an option for now. “Ok, no worries”, I thought, “I have other devices I can play on.”

I had an older laptop, not high-powered, an Asus Zenbook with an Intel Core-M processor that I decided to try to play on. All of the processing is done on Google’s end right? So, it theoretically shouldn’t be an issue and this laptop would be a lot easier to carry around than my gaming laptop. I put CentOS 8 on the machine and installed Chrome to give it a shot. The games load without an issue, but playing was just not possible. Even on a high-speed network there was so much lag and choppiness that gameplay was just not an option. Was this a fluke? Let’s try another device.

I tried to see if I could launch a game on my Amazon Fire HD 8 tablet (2019 model). Now, keep in mind, Stadia is not supposed to work on non-pixel Android devices at this time, but I have Chrome on it and popped it into desktop mode which is a known bypass to this limitation. This was an even worse experience however, as the game wouldn’t even load despite having a solid internet connection with more than the recommended speeds.

Ok, maybe more power is needed. So I tried on an old Microsoft Surface Pro 2 that I have, with an i5 processor and 8GB of RAM. On the same internet connection I was finally able to play a game. A couple of stutters here and there, but it was playable.

Now having a more-mobile device than my full-sized gaming laptop that would run Stadia, I decided to take it with me on a recent trip. I packed my Chromecast, my Stadia controller, and the Surface.

One night at the hotel I was ready to do a little gaming, so I set everything up only to stumble upon another issue I should have seen coming. The configuration of the wireless network at the hotel did not allow connected devices to see or communicate with each other. My phone couldn’t see my Chromecast or my Stadia controller to configure. So, not only did I pay $139 for the Stadia kit that was supposed to be “all you need to play”, now a travel router would also be necessary to avoid these situations. But luckily I had my Surface. I can play on there right? I connected my Surface to the wireless network, launched the Stadia site and finally I can do some gaming! Or so I thought. Once I tried to launch a game I was given a notice that wireless controller support is not yet available via the Chrome browser and the controller would have to be plugged into the computer. Yet, I had only brought an AC charging adapter and not a USB-A/USB-C cable. I couldn’t plug it in. I didn’t bring a mouse, so I couldn’t play via keyboard and mouse either. I was dead in the water.

All of this fancy technology that is supposed to allow you to play anywhere, and I couldn’t play a thing. And don’t forget, iOS isn’t supported so there was no playing on my phone. There would be no gaming on this trip.

Beyond these frustrations, the number of games available is still few in number, and the games that are available (except for one) are also available on other platforms. This causes another issue as Stadia has had almost no sales and the games that are available on Stadia have been dirt cheap for PC and consoles, especially around the holidays. I don’t mind paying a slight premium if I am able to actually play the games anywhere on any device, but as of right now Stadia is basically an at-home-only service for me, and in that case I will certainly buy the games at a cheaper price to play locally on my PC or one of my consoles – especially when Chrome (right now) is limited to 1080p resolution, another reversal from launch promises.

I still have hope for Stadia, because when it works, it works great. Just purchasing a game and clicking on play, not worrying about downloads, installs, and updates is fantastic. However, Google really needs to kick the improvement process into gear before they lose the support of their early adopters and the interest of those who have yet to pull the trigger on trying Stadia. I gave my Buddy Pass to my brother and he has yet to even register an account due to lack of interest after all of the negative press on the service.

Unless Google can bring Stadia to the point in which it is providing the services that were originally promised, the service as is will be a failure to Google and to those that invest in it. As the service stands, it serves no purpose to most people and is highly too inconvenient.

I am hoping for improvements, but right now I am only cautiously optimistic, and that level of optimism is fading quickly. For now, the Nintendo Switch continues to be my go-to for gaming on-the-go and provides a much better experience.

If you haven’t invested in Stadia yet, hold off. If you have, I am interested to hear about your experience.