Google says it will offer free Stadia trials ‘a few months’ after launch

Google has confirmed that it will eventually offer free trials for its Stadia game streaming service.

On the latest episode of the StadiaCast podcast, Stadia’s head of product John Justice said trials for the service are a “high priority” for Google.

However, Justice noted that it will be a “few months [after launch]” before these trials become available. “We’re just working through the right way and how exactly to set it up,” Justice explained.

Stadia will launch sometime in November, so a “few months” after that would put the debut of the trials sometime in early 2020. As it stands, though, the options to jump into Stadia are rather limited.

At launch, Google is only offering access to Stadia as part of the $169 CAD Stadia Founder’s Edition. This bundle includes three months of the 4K-supported Stadia Pro subscription, a Stadia Controller, a Chromecast Ultra and a Buddy Pass.

The Buddy Pass allows the user to give a three-month Stadia Pro subscription to a friend. For now, this is the only way that someone can try Stadia at launch without having to pay for the service. Justice says these buddy passes will be delivered two weeks after launch.

Further, Google says it will launch its base 1080p/30fps Stadia service sometime in 2020. Access to this tier of the service is free, although individual Stadia games will still need to be purchased.

During the podcast, Justice also said Google is looking for feedback on Stadia. According to Justice, Google is paying specific attention to people on the Stadia subreddit or listeners of the StadiaCast.

Source: StadiaCast