Google Stadia Players Who Preordered Might Not Be Able To Play When It Launches

Google Stadia has set a release date of November 19, but you may not be able to play it right away--even if you ordered a Founder's Edition. Google says that the units will be shipped out on a first-come, first-served basis, so if you ordered yours closer to its sell-out date, you may have to wait as long as December to start streaming.

The Verge reports that while Stadia officially launches at 9 AM PT on November 19, the company says not everyone who ordered one will have received theirs. The news was sparked by the announcement that Founder's Editions had sold out, and Google shifted to instead selling a new "Premiere Edition."

This led to questioning if Premiere Editions would also arrive in time for the November 19 launch. The answer is no, they won't, since Premiere Editions won't ship by that date, but Google paired that with clarifying that Founder's Editions wouldn't necessarily have shipped either. They are instead set to "start arriving" on November 19, so you'll only get to jump in immediately if you were one of the first to pre-order.

That said, the wait won't be too long. Google expects both Founder's and Premiere units to be delivered within two weeks from launch, so the latest yours should arrive would be early December.

The Premiere Edition is mostly similar to the Founder's Edition. It costs the same price, $130, but it comes with a white controller instead of the exclusive Founder's blue, and doesn't include the Founder's Badge on your account or the gift Buddy Pass for a friend. Plus by jumping in later you won't necessarily get to grab your unique Stadia username, which Google has promoted as a perk for early adopters. Check out our pre-order guide for more details.

This is the second piece of surprising Stadia news recently, after Google revealed that at launch the Stadia controller will only work wirelessly with the Chromecast Ultra. A Chromecast comes with the Founder's and Premiere Editions, but that also means you can't just swap to a phone or tablet with ease.