Stadia will lack several key features at launch, including 4K streaming on PC – Google Confirms
Stadia will lack several key features at launch, including 4K streaming on PC – Google Confirms
While many fans of Google’s Stadia plans are undoubtedly excited for the platform’s launch day, it is hard to see Stadia as anything other than a rushed product, especially given Google’s latest announcements.Â
We already know that Google is unable to fulfil all Stadia pre-orders on launch day, but Google’s problems are deeper than that, having revealed a mere 12 game launch day lineup and other notable shortcomings.Â
For starters, achievements will not be ready on launch day, with Google confirming that while all the required information is tracked, that their “platform UI for viewing your achievements and achievement notifications” will not be ready on day-1. Google provided no ETA for this feature.Â
Next up, Google has confirmed that Stadia will not be compatible with all Chromecast Ultra devices, at least initially. Only those that ship with Stadia Founders Edition bundles will be able to support Stadia Streaming at launch. Google plans to enable this feature on existing Chromecast Ultra devices with a new firmware update in the near future. Before this update, Stadia users will be restricted to a single Chromecast Ultra connected screen.Â
Those who plan to use Stadia on PC will also be annoyed by the fact that Stadia will not support 4K, HDR or 5.1 surround sound at launch. These features will be exclusive to Google’s Chromecast Ultra at launch and will arrive on PC in 2020.Â
Right now, Google’s committed to releasing Stadia on November 19th, but it’s clear that Google has had to rush to achieve this goal. Sadly, this will likely result in Stadia giving gamers a bad first impression, though Google should be able to get past this in time with frequent updates and ample developer support.Â
You can join the discussion on Stadia’s lack of several major launch day features on the OC3D Forums.Â