Google's New Chromecast Is Launching Without An Official Stadia App

The saga of Stadia, Google's streaming game service that still hasn't released in many regions around the world, keeps getting stranger. Google has just released a new Chromecast for TVs, and while it comes with over 6500 apps, Stadia isn't one of them right now.

The Verge got their hands on the new Chromecast, which comes with Google TV, and found that there was no official Stadia app at launch. While they were able to get Stadia working through sideloading, it's not an ideal solution, and it means that using Google's service on this Google product at launch is inconvenient.

According to The Verge, the device will be updated to support Stadia officially in "the first half" of 2021. Stadia is officially supported by the Chromecast Ultra, which makes its lack of inclusion here especially confusing. The only way to get the Ultra now is through the Stadia Premiere Edition kit, strangely enough.

The Verge speculates that this might have something to do with the Android TV operating system that the new Chromecast runs on, and the higher expectations for latency and clarity players have when gaming on a television.

Stadia currently doesn't have an official iOS app, either, although someone has found a way to get the service working on an iPhone.

While the Stadia has had some clear issues, game streaming does not appear to be going anywhere--Microsoft's purchase of ZeniMax, for instance, was likely motivated by a desire to get their hands on Bethesda's Orion streaming technology, as well as their games.