Looking for fresh entertainment? Google is here with a new gaming platform that delivers 4K and doesn't require a console. Give it a chance and try it for free in your computer by just signing up with your google account. You will be playing in 5 minutes and the graphics will blow your mind 🤯 Have a look at the screenshots at the end of the post if you still have any doubt!

First things first! Stadia is not free forever. You can try it free of charge for a month, but you will then be billed 9.99€ on a monthly basis. I'm usually not a fan of this free trial like strategies (I rather prefer to get a limited version of the service for free and then having the chance to unlock additional features by upgrading), but I must recognize that Stadia gaming experience is worth trialing even if you are resolved not to buy.

And "why is it worth trailing?" I can hear you asking to yourself. Leaving aside the great video game experience itself, the most interesting aspect from my point of view is the fact that you can play from your computer without installing any software. It might seem an irrelevant detail, but let's keep in mind that a very similar idea turned Netflix from an online pay-per-rent DVD rental company to one of the biggest streaming provider in the world. Stadia could be the end of consoles obsolescence (e.g. Play Station 1, Play Station 2, Play Station 3... and the list goes on).

Another promising feature, which I haven't tested out personally, is that it can be played in multiple devices such as smartphones, tablets and TVs. I tried playing from my low range smartphone but, even though the game managed to start, the Xiamoi Redmi 5 is not powerful enough to keep the pace. You can check whether your device is supported in Stadia's website. Also notice that for an optimal game experience they recommend using the Stadia controller (sold for 69€ at the time of writing), compatible with all device types and mandatory for TVs.

On the other hand, Stadia has a couple downsides. First and more important: the games still need to purchased one by one. You will get some for free when you sign up so you can test the platform, but if you want to play any game out of that selection you will need to pay for it separately. I didn't care much about which game to play so I tested out the four of them, being Destiny 2 the only one I really enjoyed (and almost got addicted to). I found other interesting titles, but too expensive in my opinion. I was expecting Stadia to go for a Spotify-like approach and include all the titles in the monthly subscription. I won't argue whether there are enough available video games or not because I trust the list will grow as the time goes by, as well as the number of players in the community

Another issue I do must point out are the recurrent disconnections I've been suffering while playing, most of the times getting a black screen with no error message at all. I couldn't find a way to solve it in Stadia forum and, while it just forced my to refresh the browser in a dell latitude 5480 laptop, it totally made impossible to play in my HP Pavilion 13 x360. I was using a 92Mbps wired internet connection in both cases, so bandwidth was clearly not the problem here. This issue is particularly annoying because the game keeps running in Stadia servers in the meanwhile, so you can be sure you will have died by the time you reconnect.

That being said I still believe is worth giving Stadia a chance. Maybe it won't reach Netflix success, but it can definitely shift the video games industry direction for good. No matter you are a tech enthusiast, an unconditional video game player or just a curious person, taking advantage of this free month won't hurt you (you can easily cancel the subscription when the time arrives) and it will give you a clue of what the future of the video games might look like.

Last but not least, an image is supposed to be worth thousand words. Have a look at these screenshots (you can capture them at any moment by pressing F12) from my charming experience with the incredibly well-crafted Destiny 2 and stop hesitating. Try out Stadia, enjoy your gaming session and see you in the next post 🎮

Posts timeline