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

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.

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