Google Stadia has had its fair share of problems since launching in November 2019. Promised features took some time to roll out and the service didn’t even work on all Chromecast Ultra devices to start with. It also doesn’t help that the company hasn’t offered much to assuage the subscriber concerns.
Well, good news – the free tier for the service is coming up “over the next few months,” as per Google VP and GM Phil Harrison. When exactly will that be? Your guess is as good as ours. Harrison told Protocol that, “The big strategic difference is that over the next few months you will be able to experience Stadia for free. No money down, without having to put a box in your home, you can just click and play amazing games straight from our data center.”
It sounds nice and all but given alternatives like Project xCloud, which is planned to be integrated into Xbox Game Pass when it’s finally ready to launch, Stadia will have tough time this year. The good news is that Stadia players will see 10 timed exclusives releasing in the first half of this year. Free titles like GYLT and Metro Exodus are also available this month for Stadia Pro subscribers. We’ll just have to wait and see how the year pans out for the service.