Let’s face it, Stadia has been on a steady decline, despite what Google has been claiming. However, this recent bit of news is encouraging. Google has announced that the Stadia will be supported on Chromecast with Google TV devices, and several TVs and set-top boxes.
No longer will you need to own a Stadia dongle to take advantage of the service – or will once June 23rd, 2021 gets here. This is an interesting 180, as Google has announced back in 2020 it had no plans to bring Stadia to the Chromecast family, outside of the Chromecast Ultra. A device that has been discontinued. Now, it’s worth mentioning that Stadia support is not coming to older Chromecast devices and instead will to the Chromecast with Google TV devices. As for why Stadia isn’t coming to the older devices, they likely lack the processing power to handle the service.
According to the announcement, the following devices will be the first to support Google Stadia, once implemented. More TVs and devices will support Google in the upcoming months
- Chromecast with Google TV
- Hisense® Android Smart TVs (U7G, U8G, U9G)
- Nvidia® Shield TV
- Nvidia® Shield TV Pro
- Onn™ FHD Streaming Stick and UHD Streaming Device
- Philips® 8215, 8505, and OLED 935/805 Series Android TVs
- Xiaomi® MIBOX3 and MIBOX4
For now, only Hisense and Philip Smart TVs are included, however, I’m praying that this will be extended to LG, TCL, Samsung, and Sony TVs. In addition, existing Android TVs may be able to install Stadia using the experimental support – but not every TV will be able to do so. It’s hit or miss. To get started, install the Stadia app from the Play Store, launch it from the “My Apps” row on your TV, and press “Continue” at the opt-in screen. If you have an Android TV-powered device, we’d love to know if able to install Stadia onto it.
As for this Google, this is a move that the company should have implemented at the very beginning. Instead of releasing just a Stadia google, they should be also included support for Smart TVs to also incorporate Stadia. The question now is this too late to help keep Stadia afloat? Well, that’s anyone’s guess but this is a damned smart move at the very least.
Source: Stadia Community
