Stadia Premiere Edition is the premium version of the Google Stadia game streaming hardware. it rolled out alongside the premium Stadia Pro services to offer gamers the chance to stream games to a number of devices, all without having to worry about hardware, software or any modern hassles of gaming. It promised a revolution, with consistent 60 FPS delivery at the highest framerates. It would have been great if it worked out like Google hoped.
If anyone could have gotten this idea right, it would be one of the biggest tech giants to ever grace Earth. But sadly, things did not go well. Google rolled out Stadia late last year to very little fanfare. The build to the launch was met with a lot of suspicions, and the launch can only really be described as tepid. The launch lineup only included 12 games, with another 10 being tacked on at the last minute. Google has been trying to make up things though, by offering more free games each month.
The launch of premium-priced services for a monthly fee didn’t excite gamers with such slim pickings for titles. It also took several months for Google to finally add the promised 4K support on various platforms. Within that same time, GeForce Now has stormed onto the scene via Nvidia’s own efforts with cloud-based gaming.
And now the hits just keep on coming. The Stadia Premiere Edition has had a major price cut. Google has cut the price for the Stadia Premiere Edition from $130 to $100. And that cheaper price does lose out on some other benefits. The three months of Stadia Pro offer is gone entirely, and the $100 price tag grants just a single month of Google Stadia Pro.
The Premier edition used to be one of only a few ways to access the service. Prior to the public launch, you needed this, or the Founder’s Edition, or a guest pass. That is no longer the case, which could have prompted the price cut. The Stadia Premiere Edition does include a Chromecast Ultra and a wireless controller, both of which are required for TV set play.
Keep in mind that it has only been seven months since Stadia launched to select users. And with the service only having been publicly accessible for less than two months, things do not look good. It seems like all those skeptics who said this wouldn’t last six months may have been spot on.
