Google is celebrating a year in the cloud with Stadia. Today, November 19, is the first anniversary of the cloud-based gaming platform, and Google has shared lots of stats regarding that first year. In addition to the stats, new features, including iOS support, have been detailed by the company. Here's what you need to know.
This marks the first week of the "iOS progressive web application" testing. As has been suggested they may try, Stadia, like Xbox, is considering an ability to give its players access via the web browser while Apple continues to stymie competitors' gaming platforms from offering their users a compatible app on iOS. "As we test performance and add more features, your feedback will help us improve the Stadia experience for everyone, "said the company. "You can expect this feature to begin rolling out several weeks from now."
As for the celebratory stats, Stadia brought a bevy of them. Over the first year, the team says they developed more than 100 updates to the service, including some of the most-touted and unique features such as Crowd Play beta, Crowd Choice, Stream Connect, State Share beta. In January, Hitman 3 will become the first game with Stadia's State Share, which allows players to share a link to their specific game, down to the very moment, for other players to jump into and play themselves as though they've inherited a save file.
In total, more than 80 games are on Stadia today, and as Google promised more than 120 would arrive in 2020, the company reminds players that Stadia is on track to hit 135+ games before January. This already includes 15 games that launched as "First on Stadia" or "Only on Stadia" titles.
On top of that, the company acquired Typhoon Studios just ahead of their debut, Journey to the Savage Planet, on top of inking future game deals with Harmonix, Supermassive Games, and Uppercut Games. They also launched Stadia Games and Entertainment across two cities, Los Angeles and Montreal.
Stadia will also be available in new markets before the end of the year, though Google has not yet revealed which ones. As has long been the case, Stadia is free to sign up and new players get a month of Stadia Pro for doing so. Currently, Stadia Pro includes 31 games for subscribers including exclusives like GYLT and major titles like PUBG. New users also get a $10 coupon to spend in the store how they see fit.
Lastly, the platform is hoping to capitalize on the year's biggest game, Cyberpunk 2077. Those who pre-order the game on Stadia can claim a free Stadia Premiere Edition by following this link.
