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[Afro Republican]

Stadia Pro members will get two more free games in December

Google Stadia players will get access to another pair of games as part of their Pro subscription next week. Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition and Farming Simulator 19 will join Destiny 2: The Collection and Samurai Shodown in the lineup at noon ET on December 1st. From then, you'll be able to play...

www.engadget.com

Google Stadia players will get access to another pair of games as part of their Pro subscription next week. Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition and Farming Simulator 19 will join Destiny 2: The Collection and Samurai Shodown in the lineup at noon ET on December 1st. From then, you'll be able to play them at no extra cost as long as your Pro subscription is active.

They're the first additions to the list of free games for Pro members (which all Stadia players are for now) since the service debuted last week. Google plans to add more free games for Pro members each month.
Both Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition and Farming Simulator 19 were among the selection of titles Stadia made available to purchase on its launch day. The service typically offers a 14-day refund window for games, but only for those you played for less than two hours. Given the short window between Stadia's initial rollout and those two titles heading to Stadia Pro, Google will relax its return policy for them.

It seems like Google is getting a bit desperate, and are already giving away the old games they were charging full price for now free of charge. Wow, that's quite a sentence.

I think someone here said it only did like 80k or something, so barely anyone cared about it from the start, and now it seems that with all the complaints Google is finally seeing the writing on the wall as the "walls are closing in" on Stadia. You know, the writing everyone else saw the day the conference it was introduced in aired. This is the worst gaming launch by any major or mid-tier gaming or technology company in gaming industry history, I don't even think it's possible to salvage this due to how badly they fucked up.

I can't wait to read in January that Stadia was a prototype experiment for some new project coming out in 2021 so Google can sunset it while trying to act like they didn't seriously think this would work.

 

[Vawn]

They already stated that the paid membership would get free games similar to PS+ and Xbox Gold.

My issue is they knew everyone who currently has Stadia has the paid membership (no choice). This means every person who bought any of these games basically just threw away money on free games. Unless I missed something and Google is refunding those people?

EDIT: I just saw Google IS refunding these people. Have to give credit where it's deserved. This is a good move on them.

OP, no need to spin positive things about products to seem negative just because you don't care for the product.

I don't care for Stadia either and I believe it will ultimately fail, but this particular move is only a positive one.

 

[Fbh]

Didn't they always say that stadia pro would include "free" games every month?

 

[MeatSafeMurderer]

 

[Husky]

Will Tomb Raider Definitive support keyboard and mouse? That release never came to PC. Now it finally (sort of) does, and it's via streaming >_>

Also, it's not for all users, so not quite collapsing yet. Oh well.

 

[wipeout364]

That’s some pretty great free games. If they keep this up they will have no problem growing the service. How much is the pro membership?

 

[Meowzers]

Nah I'm good.

I may try it out next year when it fully launches, but without the controller if possible as I don't fancy paying over the odds for something that will most likely gather dust after a few days.

 

[FStubbs]

I mean this is really getting closer to how Stadia should work anyway. Monthly fee, play what you want.

 

[Alexios]

If that's collapsing (giving stuff for a subsription which they always said was the plan iirc, discounts and offers and specials over the non-sub folks?) what's EGS with 2 free games every week after starting the service closer to something like 1 free game every 2 weeks for a limited launch time :d

Love how the press is trashing Stadia for its lack of features and quality of service after going all in with an Epic paid PR campaign that tried to say features are unnecessary or suck altogether and you just have to launch an icon from your desktop or similar so it's all good, but now it matters, lol.

 

[Afro Republican]

Will Tomb Raider Definitive support keyboard and mouse? That release never came to PC. Now it finally (sort of) does, and it's via streaming >_>

Also, it's not for all users, so not quite collapsing yet. Oh well.

It is for all users.

 

[Husky]

It is for all users.

They're for Stadia Pro subscribers, and they're only playable so long as they remain subscribed. Stadia doesn't require this subscription, so it's not all users.

 

[jshackles]

I mean this is really getting closer to how Stadia should work anyway. Monthly fee, play what you want.

I assume this is set up similarly to PS+ or GwG - only November subscribers will be able to get Destiny 2 or Samurai Showdown added to their account for free. If you sign up in December, those games will be regular priced.

I think?

 

[Afro Republican]

They're for Stadia Pro subscribers, and they're only playable so long as they remain subscribed. Stadia doesn't require this subscription, so it's not all users.

There's an article in the OP you can read if you want, this is for every user currently.

They're the first additions to the list of free games for Pro members (which all Stadia players are for now

 

[FranXico]

 

[Vawn]

I don't get what is funny about this? It may not be a full game changer, but it's a step in the right direction.

 

[Husky]

There's an article in the OP you can read if you want, this is for every user currently.

Okay okay, all users are for now.
Does this mean that once Pro goes paid, free users will lose access to those games, a la PS+?

edit: Google says so

 

[Vawn]

Okay okay, all users are for now.
Does this mean that once Pro goes paid, free users will lose access to those games, a la PS+?

Almost certainly.

 

[DESTROYA]

Stadia Pro members will get two more free games in December

Google Stadia players will get access to another pair of games as part of their Pro subscription next week. Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition and Farming Simulator 19 will join Destiny 2: The Collection and Samurai Shodown in the lineup at noon ET on December 1st. From then, you'll be able to play...

www.engadget.com

It seems like Google is getting a bit desperate, and are already giving away the old games they were charging full price for now free of charge. Wow, that's quite a sentence.

I think someone here said it only did like 80k or something, so barely anyone cared about it from the start, and now it seems that with all the complaints Google is finally seeing the writing on the wall as the "walls are closing in" on Stadia. You know, the writing everyone else saw the day the conference it was introduced in aired. This is the worst gaming launch by any major or mid-tier gaming or technology company in gaming industry history, I don't even think it's possible to salvage this due to how badly they fucked up.

I can't wait to read in January that Stadia was a prototype experiment for some new project coming out in 2021 so Google can sunset it while trying to act like they didn't seriously think this would work.

Only 80K subscriber?
Thats awful, much worse than even I thought it would do, damn that’s bad.

 

[Steven13]

Love how the press is trashing Stadia for its lack of features and quality of service

 

[Afro Republican]

Only 80K subscriber?
Thats awful, much worse than even I thought it would do, damn that’s bad.

I think that was it, someone who can find the thread can verify.

That's a pretty bad "console" launch for something that had two conferences in less than a year and ads hyping it up daily. Also many of the features they mentioned back at the first conference have never materialized.

 

[waylo]

That's the ORIGINAL Tomb Raider reboot. Like...wooooow. Thank you for the game that has been out for 6-7 years and can literally be had for a couple dollars. I can't wait to play it with degraded image quality and increased input lag. Everyone! Look how generous Google is!

 

[Grinchy]

The fact that they were just charging for these and now have to refund people tells you that making these free was not in the original plan. Which tells you that they're scrambling. Which tells you that even with all the restrictions in place for how someone could start using Stadia today, they still expected it to do better.

 

[FranXico]

That's the ORIGINAL Tomb Raider reboot. Like...wooooow. Thank you for the game that has been out for 6-7 years and can literally be had for a couple dollars. I can't wait to play it with degraded image quality and increased input lag. Everyone! Look how generous Google is!

Also, already offered on both PS+ and XBLG.

 

[Afro Republican]

The fact that they were just charging for these and now have to refund people tells you that making these free was not in the original plan. Which tells you that they're scrambling. Which tells you that even with all the restrictions in place for how someone could start using Stadia today, they still expected it to do better.

They fully expected you to pay $40-$60 for 6-2 year old games and thought all the hype would work. They also expected you wouldn't notice many of the features they announced at their press conferences have yet to materialize.

It seems they were hoping for success out the gate and to fix issues and add features in later, likely justifying it because they're releasing a year before their competitors. However, this seems to have backfired and as you say, they are scrambling. It's kind of like games releasing buggy or with low content and expecting to sell great up front and fixing the issues later. While both are bad business practices, the difference is that Stadia is an entire platform and not just an individual piece of software. They are likely losing a good chunk of money on this project even though it likely won't dent their bottom line overall.

I believe they will lie about stadia and act like they never intended it to be anything more than a demo experiment. Eventually putting out a different more feature-rich variation with a different name by spring next year.

 

[Liamario]

Even if this was lag free, there's still no incentive due to the awful value on offer.

 

[FranXico]

I believe they will lie about stadia and act like they never intended it to be anything more than a demo experiment. Eventually putting out a different more feature-rich variation with a different name by spring next year.

They likely will, but by then it will be too late.

 

[brap]

Lmao fucking farming simulator

 

[Afro Republican]

They likely will, but by then it will be too late.

Why> They can just sunset it and lie about it's purpose next month or during the new year. Promise the "real" product by April or May and have an E3 booth ready in June.

What's actually likely to happen is Google won't understand this isn't salvageable and will continue pushing stadia as is because that's what Google does.

 

[FranXico]

Why> They can just sunset it and lie about it's purpose next month or during the new year. Promise the "real" product by April or May and have an E3 booth ready in June.

What's actually likely to happen is Google won't understand this isn't salvageable and will continue pushing stadia as is because that's what Google does.

The launch is already backfiring with half of their competition missing, what do you expect to happen when they come out against a fully up running xCloud service?

 

[Afro Republican]

The launch is already backfiring with half of their competition missing, what do you expect to happen when they come out against a fully up running xCloud service?

They won't because Xbox 4 isn't releasing in the spring, which is why I said April or May. It's the only time frame they have to rebrand. Like they did with Chromebooks years back.

Otherwise they should just sunset it in a few months

To be honest I think they should just cut their losses now, they never really had a plan in place and were originally only going to launch with 12 games. They have proven they can't succeed in the gaming industry and have proven they don't understand it, Even the Ouya company understood it, they just didn't count on people not wanting to play Android games on a TV, which is hilarious in hindsight because that's why it was kickstarted.

 

[Vawn]

Only 80K subscriber?
Thats awful, much worse than even I thought it would do, damn that’s bad.

It's bad for a console launch, but it is hard to judge Stadia on this. The vast majority of Stadia players was always going to be the people playing for free. This thing is still in beta phase, whether Google can publicly admit it or not.

I'm still in the camp expecting it to fail, but the true test will be next year when it is launched for everyone without the need to buy in for the monthly subscription and forced to but their controller and accessories.

 

[cryptoadam]

I was down with Stadia but this has been a huge botched launch and Google has a horrible business plan. Features missing, crappy old games, no free tier, from my understanding not even demo's to try out the game before you buy it and find out it runs laggy AF.

The concept behind streaming IMO is solid, PSNow works great for me at least. But Google F'd up on the execution. There should be free trials at least. And this piece meal charging full price isn't working either.

Oh well another Google failed project they will forget in a year. Especially when Xcloud and PS5Now launch which will make Googles offering look like crapola. Only hope is Google is squeezed so much they go into overdrive and start giving the whole thing away at insane prices.

 

[Vawn]

To be honest I think they should just cut their losses now, they never really had a plan in place and were originally only going to launch with 12 games.

This would be absurdly stupid. You don't spend that much money on research, development and advertising only to throw the towel in one week after the launch of its paid beta.

They need to use this time to listen and learn and get the product to a more attractive position when they launch the full, free version sometime next year.

 

[FranXico]

They have proven they can't succeed in the gaming industry and have proven they don't understand it, Even the Ouya company understood it

So true, so true.

 

[CatLady]

They already stated that the paid membership would get free games similar to PS+ and Xbox Gold.

My issue is they knew everyone who currently has Stadia has the paid membership (no choice). This means every person who bought any of these games basically just threw away money on free games. Unless I missed something and Google is refunding those people?

EDIT: I just saw Google IS refunding these people. Have to give credit where it's deserved. This is a good move on them.

OP, no need to spin positive things about products to seem negative just because you don't care for the product.

I don't care for Stadia either and I believe it will ultimately fail, but this particular move is only a positive one.

Agreed.
There is WAY more than enough to trash Stadia over without picking on something actually positive they did, especially with your edit that they're refunding people that had already purchased the games on Stadia.

 

[CatLady]

The launch is already backfiring with half of their competition missing, what do you expect to happen when they come out against a fully up running xCloud service?

I think everyone is aware I'm the biggest Xbox fangirl on GAF, but I think a lot of people are overestimating xCloud. It will obviously have a much better offering with TONS of games available and making Game Pass available for xCloud is a real winner. BUT MS has to use the same internet as Google and xCloud will very likely have many/all the same technical issues as Stadia.

Hopefully though, after suffering from the disasterous XOne launch they will at least do a better job of launching xCloud than Google did with Stadia.

 

[FranXico]

I think everyone is aware I'm the biggest Xbox fangirl on GAF, but I think a lot of people are overestimating xCloud. It will obviously have a much better offering with TONS of games available and making Game Pass available for xCloud is a real winner. BUT MS has to use the same internet as Google and xCloud will very likely have many/all the same technical issues as Stadia.

Hopefully though, after suffering from the disasterous XOne launch they will at least do a better job of launching xCloud than Google did with Stadia.

Look, I'm not expecting miraculous zero lag gameplay from xCloud, but I do expect Microsoft to deliver consistent image quality at the very least.
And the biggest problems of Stadia are not technical either. Their entire business model is messed up, and only now Google started to realize it.

 

[CatLady]

Look, I'm not expecting miraculous zero lag gameplay from xCloud, but I do expect Microsoft to deliver consistent image quality at the very least.
And the biggest problems of Stadia are not technical either. Their entire business model is messed up, and only now Google started to realize it.

OK point well taken.

 

[Afro Republican]

This would be absurdly stupid. You don't spend that much money on research, development and advertising only to throw the towel in one week after the launch of its paid beta.

You seem to have forgotten what company we are discussing here.

 

[Vawn]

You seem to have forgotten what company we are discussing here.

But you said they SHOULD cut their losses right here, a week into the paid beta.

 

[alabtrosMyster]

That's like 1/4 of their whole library.

 

[Deleted member 471617]

At least they have a better December lineup than Xbox Live Gold. lol.

 

[CuteFaceJay]

Paying for free games. PAYING for FREE games. PAY for FREE products?

 

[Saruhashi]

Honestly I think it is a better idea for them to have a lot of older games available with Stadia.

It's actually a great opportunity to have games from older generations easily available to players.
There are a TON of old games that I would love to play again but can't be arsed to dig out an old console and rig it up and hope it works.

When people first get a Netflix subscription don't they often see an old movie they love and immediately add it to their watch list and actually get excited to watch the old classics?

Same with games.

Honestly, if this had launched with a 10 bucks a month subscription but with access to a whole back catalog of old games I would have absolutely been on board. PLUS these games have the advantage of not being high-performance.

This could have launched with Mass Effect Trilogy, the older Arkham games, the early Assassin's Creed games, Elder Scrolls, Fallout etc etc and I think people would have given it a real chance because they would be happy to play all those older games.

Instead they have made this baffling decision to tout the high performance of their platform.

All you favorite games from the past, on any screen, switch between screens and keep your place in the game, for 10 bucks a month. I'd have been on board with that.

A few recent releases supposedly running at the best setting imaginable but actually being a bit sluggish and lower quality than consoles just isn't that appealing.

Having 4 "great" games with Stadia Pro is fucking nonsense. FOUR games with your monthly subscription? That's bullshit.

 

[xrnzaaas]

At least they have a better December lineup than Xbox Live Gold. lol.

No they don't, Jurassic World Evolution is a great game.

 

[kraspkibble]

oh boy. i can not wait to play Tomb Raider. /s

what year is it? that came out in 2013 for goodness sake.

and do they want me to get excited about driving a tractor and picking carrots and potato?

 

[The Scrivener]

I didn't know Stadia did free games for subscribers. But since they do, it looks like free games for subscribers will be the basic minimum for all platforms in the future. Which makes me happy. Game Pass has more than enough for this 40-year-old gamer, add the other subscription services and, phew, man. Good on Stadia for offering this too (at least during its short life haha lol sorry had to).