Google Stadia Pro members get ‘about one’ free game per month
Google Stadia Pro subscribers get approximately one free game each month. The games will remain available as long as the Stadia subscription is active. The Pro subscription streams games in 4k resolution and costs 10 euros per month.
That Stadia Pro members get about one game per month, says Andrey Doronichev in an Ask Me Anything session on Reddit. He is the Director of Product of Stadia. Google previously announced that Stadia Pro subscribers will get access to free games, but how many there are was previously unclear. Google just said that the first game that will be available for free is Destiny 2. Doronichev uses the wording ‘about one’, which leaves open the possibility that several games will be added in some months.
Other games must be purchased separately. This concerns games that have been made suitable for Google Stadia and the games that users buy can only be played on Google’s streaming service. It is not possible to transfer games that players already own to Stadia.
Doronichev emphasizes in the AMA that Stadia is not ‘Netflix for games’, but is more comparable to subscriptions such as PlayStation Plus and Xbox Live Gold. Members pay for online functionality and receive a number of free games every month. At Stadia, that online functionality is game streaming; these are on Google’s servers, so gamers don’t need powerful hardware. The paid Pro version of Stadia streams in 4k resolution. With the PlayStation and Xbox subscriptions, which are cheaper than Stadia Pro, members get at least two games every month.
Furthermore, Doronichev says that Stadia will have an equivalent for the Achievements and Trophies of Xbox and PlayStation games. However, that won’t be available in November when Stadia comes out, but will be added ‘a little later’. The AMA also shows that the Stadia controller does not support Bluetooth headsets. Players can connect headphones to the 3.5mm output. When playing on a Pixel smartphone or in the Chrome browser on a computer, Bluetooth headphones can be used by pairing them with the device itself.
Google Stadia will be available from November. The Pro version, which costs ten euros per month, streams games in 4k resolution at up to 60fps and offers 5.1 audio. The service is also free to use, but with that variant participants do not get free games and the maximum resolution is 1080p and the sound is in stereo. To play on the free version of Stadia, players must pay for games.