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Google Stadia will let you play AAA games anywhere starting November 19

Google Stadia — the cloud-based game-streaming service — promises to deliver console and PC quality to players regardless of the device they use, no matter if it’s a Pixel phone, tablet, or laptop. Now, thanks to today’s Made By Google 2019 event, we know when you’ll be able to try it out for yourself: Google Stadia will officially launch on November 19. This announcement came alongside the Pixel 4, Pixel Buds 2, and the Nest Home Mini.

As previously revealed by Google, the only way you’ll be able to play Google Stadia at launch is with the Founder’s Edition, which comes with a controller, three months of the Stadia Pro subscription service, and a Chromecast Ultra for playing on a television. At launch, the only phones supported will be the Pixel 3, Pixel 3 XL, Pixel 3a, Pixel 3a XL and newer.

The official Stadia controller was designed for those with both large and small hands, and its engineers revealed during the Made by Google event that the shape of its grip was originally based on a knife handle.

Google certainly isn’t skimping when it comes to the games you’ll be able to play on Stadia. Big-name first-person shooters such as Destiny 2: Shadowkeep and Doom Eternal are coming to the streaming service, and it will also support Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption 2.

The promises being made for future Stadia performance are certainly lofty — though they have also been met with some mocking online. The company believes it can achieve “negative latency” within the next few years, which could predict your button presses before you actually make them. This could potentially remove user input from the gaming equation, and would work by pre-rendering frames so that they are prepared for when the button is actually pressed. As it stands, there is very little latency on the current version of Stadia, though the quality we experienced during the Project Stream test was not on par with a PC or console.

Google will have hefty competition in the game-streaming space, as Microsoft is also preparing to launch its Project xCloud service. The service was just opened up to preview members with Android devices, and also allows players to enjoy PC or console AAA games on practically any device they own.

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Gabe Gurwin
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…
Ubisoft and more offer ways to play purchased Google Stadia games elsewhere
The protagonist of Assassin's Creed: Valhalla shouting in battle and wielding two axes.

Google recently announced that it plans to shutter its cloud gaming service Stadia in early 2023, leaving players who used it as one of their primary platforms in an awkward situation. Google already promised to refund people for their Google Stadia hardware and software purchases, but people are still losing access to games they enjoyed and save files they possibly dumped hours into. Thankfully, some developers are working on ways to help Stadia players.
The most notable studio to help Stadia players is Ubisoft, which was Google's earliest partner for the technology via an Assassin's Creed Odyssey demo. "While Stadia will shut down on January 18, 2023, we're happy to share that we're working to bring the games you own on Stadia to PC through Ubisoft Connect," Ubisoft tweeted. "We'll have more to share regarding specific details, as well as the impact for Ubisoft+ subscribers, at a later date." Thankfully, the Stadia versions of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Far Cry 6, Immortals Fenyx Rising, Tom Clancy’s The Division 2, and Watch Dogs: Legion support cross-progression, so players won't lose their save files. 
https://twitter.com/UbisoftSupport/status/1575922767593078793
Ubisoft isn't the only developer to help. Developer Muse Games is giving Embr Steam codes to those who played its comedic co-op firefighting game on Stadia if they email the developer with screenshots of Embr in their Stadia library. Meanwhile, IO Interactive confirmed that it is "looking into ways for you to continue your Hitman experience on other platforms," as the World of Assassination trilogy was available on Google Stadia. 
There's still the matter of the five Google Stadia exclusives: Gylt, Hello Engineer, Outcasters, Pac-Man Mega Tunnel Battle, and PixelJunk Raiders. So far, only one of those games seems like it will be saved. PixelJunk Raiders developer Q-Games said in a blog post that "we hope to find a way to continue to share the vibrant worlds of Planet Tantal in the future, and we’re open to discussing opportunities to find the right publishing partner to make it happen.. Tequila Works, tinyBuild, Splash Damage, and Bandai Namco Entertainment did not respond to requests for comment from Digital Trends.
While the shutdown of Google Stadia is disappointing for players like myself who enjoy cloud gaming, at least players will be get refunds, and in some cases get the game for a new platform.

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Google announced yesterday that it will shut down Stadia in January. The good news is that refunds will be given to everyone who bought all Stadia hardware, including its controller, so long as they bought it from the Google Store. You don't have to return the controller to get the refund (see the platform's FAQ page), but it doesn't have to go to waste just because Stadia is shutting down.

Users in the Stadia subreddit have been asking Google to make the firmware for the Stadia controller open source so that it would work on PC and consoles even after its namesake platform has been put out to pasture (per Eurogamer). Though Google won't be able to do that in an official capacity anytime soon, software engineer Parth Shah created a workaround tool that allows players to use the controller wirelessly over Wi-Fi.

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Google Stadia controller.

After three years, Google Stadia is coming to an end. The Silicon Valley giant announced that the cloud-streaming platform will be going offline on January 18, 2023.

In a blog post published on Thursday, Phil Harrison, Stadia's vice president and general manager, said the company made the difficult decision to shut down Stadia because the cloud-streaming service hasn't "gained the traction with users" that it expected since its launch in 2019. This is despite the developed technology that allowed players to play demos from YouTube videos on their favorite games and then purchase them later, no console required.

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