[ad_1]
What great news for all Swiss gamers, Google Stadia is now available in Switzerland (and also in Austria).
The new Stadia range of games didn’t hit the mark as sustainable as Google had in mind. Among other things, it was certainly due to game selection and not least availability. Switzerland, Austria and other countries were not present from the beginning.
In recent months, however, many things have changed and for the first anniversary the offer is also much better. Now Google Stadia Switzerland is finally with us.
I was allowed to test Google Stadia in advance. Here is my first practice.
From December 7, 2020 in Switzerland
Well, a year and a half later, the gaming platform is finally moving to the Swiss Google Play store. Now you can buy the Stadia controller, which is undoubtedly an exciting competitor for this year’s Christmas business. What exactly it is and how it plays with it, that’s what this blog is about.
From the beginning, here in this post I will leave a few things. You can read that easily and quickly in the article about last year’s Stadia launch.
These include points like: What are the benefits of cloud gaming? You can also search what games were there at the beginning. But it is certainly much more interesting to take a look to judge current games.
Google Stadia Switzerland: the costs
The “game subscription” with Google behaves a little differently than the usual services. Google Stadia is a combination of a monthly subscription, along with the separate purchase of individual game titles.
There are basically two subscription models:
Stadiums
There are no monthly costs here. You don’t get any inclusive titles and you only buy them outright. There is currently a catalog of 100 titles available.
In terms of resolution, you get a maximum of 1,080p with a frame rate of 60 FPS. The audio output is stereo sound.
Destiny 2: New Light, exclusive and free to all Stadia users, will be available to play from the start.
Stadia Pro
For CHF 11.- per month you have access to a group of free titles (my advice about it). Currently (as of December 2020) there are 33 titles.
Individual titles are purchased in the same way as with the free Stadia subscription. But here you benefit from exclusive Stadia Pro offers with interesting discounts.
In terms of resolution, titles with up to 4K, HDR can be included and the audio output is in maximum 5.1 surround sound.
Google Stadia Founder’s Edition
Small spoiler: The Founders Edition is already sold out!
For the international start there was also an edition of Google Stadia Founders.
For EUR 129.00 there were three months of free Stadia Pro use plus two pieces of hardware. That would be the Google Stadia controller and the Google Chromecast Ultra. But this eventually sold out and since the product was delayed a bit, Google had to take action.
Google Stadia Premiere Edition
In Switzerland, Google is also starting with a starter package. This is the premiere edition of Google Stadia. by CHF 119.99.- You get the Google Stadia controller in Clear Whyte and the Google Chromecast Ultra in one package.
Does the Stadia game service also support Google Chromecast with Google TV? The question arises naturally. Because the Chromecast Ultra is no longer officially available to buy and just a few weeks ago the search engine giant unveiled the new Google TV-based TV device and put it up for sale.
Unfortunately the answer is no, but …
According to Google’s own statement, compatibility should arrive in 2021. So I currently recommend buying the starter pack mentioned above or waiting.
Google Stadia: what devices are supported?
To play Google Stadia games, you need a HID controller. This is connected to your device via a USB cable. Alternatively, everything also works with a PS4 / PS5 controller or one from X-Box. Last but not least, it also works via mouse and keyboard.
Here’s a list of possible ways you can play Stadia game titles.
Right on tv
- With Chromecast Ultra and Stadia Controller
I am a browser
To do this, you must use the Google Chrome browser (from version 75). Unfortunately, other Chromium-based browsers don’t work.
You can use the following peripherals to play:
- Keyboard and mouse (USB or via Bluetooth)
- Xbox One controller (USB or via Bluetooth)
- Xbox One Elite Controller (USB)
- Xbox Adaptive Controller (USB or via Bluetooth)
- Xbox 360 Controller (USB)
- Sony PS4 DualShock 4 Controller (USB or via Bluetooth)
- Nintendo Switch Pro Controller (USB or Bluetooth, Windows only)
Am (Pixel) -Smartphone
It all started on the smartphone with Google’s own smartphones. Compatible Pixel models include:
- Google Pixel 2 / Pixel 2 XL
- Google Pixel 3 / Pixel 3 XL
- Google Pixel 3a / Pixel 3a XL
- Google Pixel 4 / Pixel 4 XL
Pixel Smartphones also need additional hardware, such as:
- Xbox One controller (USB or via Bluetooth)
- Xbox One Elite Controller (USB)
- Xbox Adaptive Controller (USB or via Bluetooth)
- Xbox 360 Controller (USB)
- Sony PS4 DualShock 4 Controller (USB or via Bluetooth)
Over the months, Google has opened up and expanded it to include the following smartphone models:
- ASUS ROG Phone
- ASUS ROG Phone II
- ASUS ROG III Phone
- LG V50 ThinQ
- LG V50S ThinQ
- LG V60 ThinQ
- LG G7 ThinQ
- LG G8 ThinQ
- LG Wing
- OnePlus 5 / 5T
- OnePlus 6 / 6T
- OnePlus 7/7 Pro / 7 Pro 5G / 7T / 7T Pro / 7T Pro 5G
- OnePlus 8
- OnePlus 8 Pro
- OnePlus North
- Razer Phone
- Razer Phone II
- Samsung Galaxy S8 / S8 +
- Samsung Galaxy S8 active
- Samsung Galaxy Note 8
- Samsung Galaxy S9 / S9 +
- Samsung Galaxy Note 9
- Samsung Galaxy S10 / S10E / S10 +
- Samsung Galaxy Note 10 / Note 10+
- Samsung Galaxy S20 / S20 + / S20 Ultra
The list of all games for Google Stadia
It should all start with 30 games, the game list has only slowly filled up. But now there are a few more titles. You can find a separate blog post here on the blog, in which we list the current titles. Here you come directly to the post: You can play these games with Google Stadia.
Share Google Stadia tracks with the family
Family sharing has been a really important feature in the Apple universe for years. At first, only the purchased music and then also the applications could be shared in the family itself. This now also applies to movie and series streaming offerings, but also to Apple Arcade, Apple’s gaming service.
Google started offering this feature on Stadia this summer. With the same familiar structure that you can use to share your purchased content on the Google Play Store, as well as the storage space on Google One, you can now do this with game titles too.
The Stadia subscriber and therefore the game library owner can share individual games or even share the entire collection with the family. Especially practical for families with young children, Stadia takes into account the age of the respective family members.
The youngest cannot view titles with a rating of “16 years or older” and above.
Play Google Stadia Switzerland on the go – mobile data?
Until now, Google Stadia can only be controlled via WLAN. Whether at home, in the office or in the corner cafe, here you can dial into the WLAN directly with your smartphone / tablet and start playing.
Of course, with a mobile gaming solution like Google Stadia would like, I think it’s a bit embarrassing that there is no 4G (LTE) or 5G option.
Google has already talked about the idea that they would bring mobile support in the future. I think it is very difficult that they are waiting for better 5G coverage here.
Because with 5G, the user is offered for the first time a fast and, above all, very precise connection with the respective game server.
Alternatively of course you can take a mobile router, like the Netgear Nighthawk M2 or the AVM FRITZ! Box 6820 LTE, and use it to connect. With this, you “cheat” the service on an active WLAN.
The question is, of course, how good is the connection. I’m already looking forward to the first mobile 5G router.
Who is Google Stadia for?
With its Android games, Google already offers casual gamer titles on smartphones and tablets. With Google Stadia, the search engine giant now wants to go a bit further. The new competition is, then, Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft with their big consoles.
As with Sony, Google wants to attract with exclusive titles. For example, they offered Destiny 2 as part of the Pro flat rate and that was exclusive for six months. Destiny 2 is now free for all Stadia users to play.
What really bothered me at first, besides the monthly costs, the user was allowed access again and had to buy the respective titles at full price. Before Microsoft expanded its Game Pass that much, it was similar with Sony and Microsoft, but here Microsoft ushers in a new era. The casual gamer is really broke by the subscription.
Meanwhile, Google also has a larger game catalog with a Stadia Pro subscription. Now the question is whether Google will be able to gather a larger community of gamers as quickly as possible and convert them into Stadia Pro users.
Assuming the correct internet connection, at least the input to the games is set significantly lower than in the case of Microsoft and Sony. Here you have to buy a new next gen console first and that can hurt your wallet and currently you have to wait until you have new consoles.
If you have a powerful internet connection and you want to play the latest games with great resolution and performance, but at the same time you don’t want to spend too much money on a new game console, then Google Stadia might be the one for you.
An internet-enabled device with a mouse and keyboard or appropriate driver and you’re done.
Now I’m going to play Tomb Raider first. All three titles in the trilogy can be found in the Stadia Pro subscription.
For everyone who has been lost so far, I was allowed to test the console beforehand.
Here is my first practice.
