Stadia features won't all be available at launch, such as Stream Connect, Crowd Play or Achievements

Stadia promotional image (Image credit: Google)

What you need to know

Google held an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Reddit to talk about Stadia.
During the AMA, Andrey Doronichev, Director of Product for Stadia, stated that many features won't be available at launch.
Stadia technically launches on November 19, when the Founder's edition begins shipping out.
The Founder's edition is the only way to get Stadia at the moment.

In an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Reddit, Andrey Doronichev, Director of Product for Stadia at Google, answered some different questions from potential players and users of the device. When asked about when announced features would be useable with Stadia, Doronichev wrote the following in response.

"Our approach to releasing features on Stadia is similar to how we run Google Search, YouTube and other Google services: gradual rollout and continuous improvement, based on your feedback. We always start with nailing the key user-journey and then proceed with releasing extra features. YouTube started with "watch video". For Stadia it's "Play the Game on your biggest screen". New features will start popping as soon as one week after launch. I expect the first game with Stream Connect to launch by the end of the year. The games that support State Share and Crowd Play will be released next year. And of course there are many more cool new platform features on the roadmap. We're aiming to release new stuff weekly after 11/19."

Doronichev also noted that achievements won't be supported at launch however, achievement support is retroactive. Once achievements do launch, players will receive a bunch of achievements all at once. Buddy Pass will also not be available at launch but will instead roll out sometime over the next couple of weeks after launch.

During the AMA, Doronichev also confirmed that existing Chromecast Ultras won't work with Stadia, it specifically requires the one included with the Founder's edition. Google recently confirmed the launch lineup for Stadia, which consists of 12 games.

Stadia: What you need to know about Google's game streaming service

Samuel Tolbert

Samuel Tolbert is a freelance writer covering gaming news, previews, reviews, interviews and different aspects of the gaming industry, specifically focusing on PlayStation on Android Central. You can find him on Twitter @SamuelTolbert

4 Comments

I'm starting to feel google have messed up with this product. If you compare the Microsoft xcloud beta to this launching product it feels empty and half done. Google need to get thing moving quickly if they want to compete with Sony, Microsoft and others.
Wait... People who already have a perfectly good Chromecast Ultra will have to buy a new one to use with Stadia?! That makes no sense unless it's a fully new "Chromecast Ultra 2." If it is, what other benefits does it over over the existing model? If there are none, why not when you're changing the hardware; if there aren't hardware changes (which would warrant feature/performance enhancement), shouldn't a firmware update be sufficient to enable compatibility on existing units? Sure, people buying the Founder's kit are getting it, but a friend who might be provided with the buddy pass that already has an Ultra is getting a raw treatment.
@Samuel Tolbert
The linked article about "will Stadia work with my existing Chromecast" still says it will, and suggests a link to buy an Ultra if one has the basic model. That's a faulty recommendation now in light of the information you referenced presented in the AMA. I tried going to put that caveat in a comment at that page but comments aren't enabled there. Going to be a lot of angry people who bought a stand-alone Chromecast Ultra in anticipation of Stadia...
No voice chat on mobile at launch?