Google Starts Giving Stadia Away
Google Stadia might yet turn out to be the single most important advancement in the field of video gaming of the past twenty years. It represents the first attempt to take the concept of streaming video games and make it mainstream, breaking the link between games and the hardware they’re played on.
It’s probably a little bit ahead of its time, and it hasn’t captured the attention of the public in quite the way that Google hoped it would, but the platform is still very much alive and kicking. All Google needs is to find more players so they can expand the platform and push it forward – and they think they might have found a way to do it.
Getting the public to accept the idea of saying goodbye to consoles and putting their trust in their internet connections was never going to be an easy task, but it can be done. There was similar distrust when the concept of online slots websites and casinos first appeared around twenty years ago.
Gamblers were initially suspicious about spending money online, and they weren’t convinced that they’d get the same experience or standard of service out of online slots as they would if they were playing slots in person. Over time, that changed. These days, there are far more people spending their time and money into online playtech slots than there are visiting casinos. Google hopes that they can do the same with gaming, and this latest innovation might be the little push they need to get the idea over the edge.
One of the barriers that Google struggled with in the early days of the console was cost. They were asking people to spend money on hardware for a platform they’d never seen before and then spend even more money on controllers and a monthly subscription. Over time, we’ve seen them back away from that idea. The first step was introducing a free tier, which allowed players to play a limited number of the games available on Stadia for two months without paying anything for the privilege of doing so.
As a follow-up, the company decided to stop insisting that players purchase a Stadia-specific controller to play Stadia games. You can now play games on the platform using almost any controller – including those made by Sony and Microsoft – although you might need to employ a few workarounds if you’re playing games on a television as opposed to a laptop, tablet, or phone.
Opening the doors up in this manner has won Google a few new Stadia players, but still not enough for their liking. To that end, they’ve made the ultimate sacrifice in terms of their profit margins. They’re going to start giving Stadia away completely free of charge. As of November 6th, anyone can get a Google Stadia ‘Premiere Edition’ bundle on the house – but there are a few catches. The first one is that you have to start paying for another Google product if you want your free Stadia goods. To be more specific, you’ll have to take out and start paying for a YouTube premium subscription.
In return for taking out a YouTube premium subscription, gamers will receive a bundle valued at $99, which includes a Stadia controller and a Chromecast Ultra. You’ll also have to take out and enter payment details for a Stadia Pro subscription, although Google is keen to point out that the first month of the subscription is free, and players are free to cancel at any time before their first bill falls due. In the event that the Stadia Pro subscription is canceled, players are still allowed to keep their free hardware. To put it plainly, Google is prepared to take the hit on the cost of the hardware in return for a chance at turning you into a Stadia ‘true believer.’
As with any deal that looks too good to be true, there are a few caveats. The first is that the Chromecast Ultra you get won’t be Google’s latest model. Despite how it might appear, this isn’t down to Google trying to offload old, unwanted stock. For reasons that presumably make sense to someone within Google, the newest version of the Chromecast Ultra isn’t compatible with Stadia and won’t be until some point in early 2021.
There are also a few more terms and conditions attached, mostly connected to the YouTube Premium subscription, which has to remain active for several months of players want to keep hold of their free goods. On the plus side, that’s still cheaper than buying the gear yourself, and it means you won’t get interrupted by irritating adverts every time you’re watching videos on YouTube.
For those who have never investigated the possibility of taking out a YouTube Premium subscription before, it will cost you twelve dollars per month. For that payment, you’ll get no adverts, the ability to play YouTube videos and music in the background of your phone or tablet, permanent downloads of all YouTube content, and access to the fledgling YouTube Music Premium service.
Google could also use a few more subscribers for its music platform, so from a marketing point of view, this is them killing two birds with one stone.
Should you want to avail yourself of Google’s seemingly-generous offer, it remains open until December 31st to all customers in the United States of America and the United Kingdom, with availability elsewhere in the world subject to confirmation. Unfortunately, it isn’t available to anyone who already has a YouTube Premium subscription or anyone who already has a Google Stadia subscription.
Google’s recent habit of giving away things that early adopters paid full price for has been causing some consternation to those early adopters, but the company is unlikely to care too much about that so long as they gain more users than they lose from the transaction.
As a final piece of Stadia news, you’ll also be able to share your new account with a small group of friends or family members thanks to the new “Family Sharing” system, which is yet another move to expand Stadia’s player base. That means you can bring some friends in on the trial and see if you (or they) enjoy it as much as Google hopes you will. If they do, the company will hope that all of you will consider keeping a Stadia Pro account for the long term – in which case everybody wins!