Google Makes Stadia Free for 2 Months

Google made a surprise announcement today: it’s making Stadia available for free for the next two months. The offer will allow users to play games like Destiny 2: The Collection for free on Stadia.

The main reason behind the offer is to keep people connected with each other during the coronavirus outbreak. “We’re facing some of the most challenging times in recent memory. Keeping social distance is vital, but staying home for long periods can be difficult and feel isolating,” said Google.

Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox

Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday — and get free copies of Paul Thurrott's Windows 11 and Windows 10 Field Guides (normally $9.99) as a special welcome gift!

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

[ad unit=’in_content_premium_block’]

Google is making Stadia free for two months in 14 countries. “Video games can be a valuable way to socialize with friends and family when you’re stuck at home, so we’re giving gamers in 14 countries free access to Stadia for two months,” added Phil Harrison, Vice President at Google Stadia.

The offer will give users access to Stadia Pro for free for two months. That means you will instantly get access to nine games, including Destiny 2: The Collection, Thumper, and GRID. Users will also be able to purchase their own games from the Stadia Store, which they will continue to own even after the offer expires.

Google also isn’t charging existing Stadia Pro subscribers for the next two months. After the two months, however, Stadia Pro will go back to its $9.99 a month pricing.

The company is also working on a new “temporary” feature that will change the screen resolution for games from 4K to 1080P in an effort to reduce the load on the internet due to increased demand caused by the coronavirus outbreak.

Tagged with

Share post

Please check our Community Guidelines before commenting

Conversation 7 comments

  • chaad_losan

    08 April, 2020 - 6:46 pm

    <p>Stadia needs to die in a fire.</p><p>It's the worst of all possible business models rolled into one. </p>

  • dcdevito

    08 April, 2020 - 6:50 pm

    <p>I believe they announced a free Stadia tier and are offering Stadia Pro free for two months. The free tier allows for 1080p resolution. </p>

    • wright_is

      Premium Member
      09 April, 2020 - 5:29 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#537560">In reply to dcdevito:</a></em></blockquote><p>That is what Paul reported on Windows Weekly. It was always planned to have the bottom level tier to be free and the Pro on top.</p>

  • Stooks

    08 April, 2020 - 9:07 pm

    <p>I bet the experience is fantastic right now with the Internet being crushed. Google had a major outage today. You could not pay me to use this.</p>

  • remc86007

    09 April, 2020 - 1:25 am

    <p>Who are these people that would both know what Stadia is and want it and yet don't already have a gaming system? </p>

  • bashmohandes

    09 April, 2020 - 2:31 am

    <p>People on Stadia have been practicing social distancing for quite a while.</p>

  • hellcatm

    09 April, 2020 - 12:36 pm

    <p>These services (Stadia, xCloud, Gforce Now…etc) are good for 2 types of people. </p><p><br></p><ol><li>The person who wants mobile gaming with PC titles. They don't want to buy a Switch because of cost and maybe they don't like the games that are on it. They already have a phone or tablet. Now the issue with this is you need a good internet connection so that would be home or someones house that has a good connection because until we get 5G, that's not at your local Starbucks or a hotel.</li><li>A person who can't afford a high end gaming PC, but they like PC gaming. Maybe its someones kid or just someone who doesn't have $2000+ for a good PC. Maybe they have a cheap PC, or a Chromebook and want to play games but they don't want a console because they like playing with a mouse and keyboard and also they like some games that aren't on consoles that one of these services might have. That is when they make a browser plugin or PC app.</li></ol><p><br></p><p>I'm not sure if Stadia will make it. xCloud has a good chance because it'll get the games, you'll see hundreds of games on it. I've been using Gforce Now for a few weeks and its decent, it has some issues with congestion, but it's not too bad. Will they be for the gamer who has the money for a good PC…no because I think there will always be more latency in cloud gaming and I don't think the graphics will ever be as crisp as a good high end PC, but they'll be better than a low end and maybe comparable to a mid-range PC. In other words these services will be good enough for most people, and the kids who grow up using these services will stick with them just like people who watch shows on their phones or people who grow up using an ipad. Sure, there are things out there that are better but they've gotten use to using these devices so they keep using them. </p><p><br></p><p>I won't try out Stadia until they come out with a way to play on my TV or PC and also I don't want to buy their controller. When they do I'll test it and see if its any good. I think the services are a good idea.</p>

Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox

Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Thurrott © 2024 Thurrott LLC