One of the issues that I have with Stadia is that you still need to pay for games. While there is a basic version that is free, it will be available next year. If you are interested in checking out the platform this year, you will have to buy the $120 Founder Edition. I am sure that people were hoping that paying for the service would mean that the games that will be available might be cheaper.
That is not the case according to Stadia chief Phil Harrison. He mentioned that there is no reason why games would be cheaper on Stadia. Google has confirmed a couple of games that will be available at launch. These games are as follows:
- Doom Eternal
- Wolfenstein: Youngblood
- Baldur’s Gate 3
- Final Fantasy 15
- Rage 2
- Football Manager 2020
- Borderlands 3
- Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
- Ghost Recon Breakpoint
- Mortal Kombat 11
While Destiny 2 along with the upcoming Shadowkeep expansion will be free. You still need to buy the rest of the games. Harrison did not mention anything specific about the pricing of games on Google Stadia but he did mention the following:
The publisher or the developer is in as much control of the prices as we are, so it’s a bit difficult for me to say what the prices will be right now. But, we’re obviously going to be very aware of prevailing prices in the marketplace.
When you subscribe to Xbox Game Pass you get 20% off on purchases. So, if a game is leaving the Game Pass library and you still want to play it you can buy it at a discounted price. Google Stadia could offer something similar. Right now there is very little that we know about the pricing of games on the platform.
Harrison also confirmed that games and saves will be available even if the developer stops supporting the title down the line. He mentioned that even if a developer or publisher no longer have the right to sell the game, players that have already bought the title will be able to play it.
There is a bit of silver lining but there is still a lot that we do not know about Google Stadia at this point. Let us know what you think about the platform and whether or not it is something that you are interested in checking out.