Google reveals Stadia bandwidth requirements, launch titles, price and availability

Google is finally ready to talk more about Stadia – its highly ambitious game streaming service that will allow gamers to play high-end AAA games across devices over the cloud without any dedicated gaming rig, console or otherwise. Turns out, Stadia isn’t really the ‘Netflix for games’ as we all had imagined it to be. At least, not at launch. For at launch, Google is focusing entirely on early adopters who’ll be ready to buy Stadia games, while one can only hope to rent these games (and more) in the future, for now. 

Google is starting the proceedings with two kinds of subscription models - Stadia Pro and Stadia Founder’s Edition. While the Stadia Pro will cost about $10 a month, Stadia Founder’s Edition will pack three months of Stadia Pro plus a hardware starter kit that will include a Chromecast Ultra and a limited-edition night blue Stadia controller, all for $130. Stadia Founder’s Edition will also give subscribers access to Bungie’s Destiny 2: The Collection with cross-save functionality, an exclusive Stadia name, and a buddy pass that will allow a friend to access the whole thing at no extra cost. 

Stadia will launch this November in 14 countries (India will have to wait, for now), with Google starting pre-orders for Stadia Founder’s Edition today. 

Google is promising console-quality gaming (4K at 60fps at launch) sans an actual console - Google is really touting Stadia as a gaming platform for everyone and with it the company is joining the likes of Microsoft, Nvidia and Sony to end the reliance on hardware upgrades and stream high-quality games whenever, wherever. 

Stadia will require a recommended minimum bandwidth of 10Mbps to stream games at 720p, 60fps while for a maxed-out gaming experience at full 4K HDR, 60fps, the service will require speeds of up to 35Mbps. Google is working on a free tier model, keeping the former in mind, that will be available sometime in 2020 – you’ll need to buy just the games in that case. 

Speaking of games, Google Stadia is launching with at least 31 games, including Baldur's Gate 3, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint, Gylt, Get Packed and Tom Clancy's The Division 2. More details will be revealed at E3 2019.  

Stadia will leverage Google’s massive infrastructure of data centers – that will in turn be powered by a custom AMD chip capable of churning out 10.7 GPU teraflops (for some perspective, the most powerful gaming console in the world, the Xbox One X maxes out at 6 teraflops).   

Since Stadia is a platform designed for instant access of play over the cloud, there will be multiple ways to access it – via the Chrome web browser, Chromecast Ultra or even a smartphone like the Pixel 3.

Also Read:  Google Announces Stadia Game Streaming Service, Promises Smooth 4K 60fps Playback Over The Cloud