Got a Stadia controller? You can now turn it into a bluetooth controller for non Stadia gaming

Stadia users can now update their Stadia gamepads to support Bluetooth connections

Today is the last day that Google’s Stadia game streaming service will be available to use, a change that could have made the platform’s gamepads nothing more than mere paperweights. Thankfully, Google has created an update utility that will turn Stadia controllers into bluetooth gamepads, making them usable with paired smartphones and PCs.

To make a long story short, Google’s Stadia game streaming service was never popular enough to make long-term support viable. The service did not have any exclusive AAA-class experiences, and most gamers simply prefer to have a console in their homes than a console in the cloud. Furthermore, Xbox Cloud Streaming and PC cloud services like GeForce Now offered gamers access to more games and offered gamers a stronger experience in many regions. 

Instead of allowing their Stadia hardware to fall into disuse, Google has created an application that allows their Stadia controllers to be made into bluetooth gamepads. Previously, Stadia controllers connected directly to your WIFI router to enable a lower latency connection to Stadia game servers, but now that Stadia is about to be retired, Google has given gamers the option to enable bluetooth support for their gamepads to make them usable with other devices. This will disable WIFI connectivity, so don’t update your gamepad if you plan to play one last Stadia game today.   

Stadia has become the newest Google project to be axed, joining the likes of Google Play Music, Google Hangouts, Google Plus, and Chrome Apps. One of the major problems that Stadia faced was the fact that gamers did not believe that Google would support the service long-term, a belief that has now turned out to be correct.

You can join the discussion on Google enabling Bluetooth switching for their Stadia controllers on the OC3D Forums.