Google announced that Stadia is officially launching on November 19th, and revealed a slew of more details. The company also revealed that "wireless play" on the Stadia Controller will only work with the Chromecast Ultra at launch. The game streaming service’s only piece of first-party hardware is a Controller that features Stadia-specific shortcuts and Wi-Fi. Google touts how that accessory’s direct connectivity to Stadia instances in the cloud allows for the lowest latency gaming experience. Yesterday’s “Everything You Need To Know Before Launch” video had the following disclaimer about Stadia Controller’s wireless play:
At launch, wireless play with the Stadia Controller is only available on TV using a Chromecast Ultra
For several months, a Google FAQ noted how “to play on your TV you will need to use the Stadia Controller and Google Chromecast Ultra.” As a result, many people’s initial read on the newest qualifier was that a Stadia Controller + Chromecast is the only way to play on big screens.
While that’s correct for TVs, there is also a broader limitation according to a Googler on r/Stadia yesterday:
As for wireless gameplay, this is limited to Chromecast Ultra. When plugged in via USB cable, the Stadia Controller acts as a standard USB HID controller and may work on other platforms depending on the game and setup.
Updated:12:03 AM CEST Sep,22
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