Google makes Stadia Pro free for 2 months in 14 countries

San Francisco Apr 9: Google on Wednesday announced to make its Cloud gaming service Stadia Pro free for two months, waiving off the $130 entry fee in 14 countries, as people stay home owing to COVID-19 lockdowns and social distancing.

Anyone who signs up will get two free months of Stadia Pro with instant access to nine games, including GRID, Destiny 2: The Collection, and Thumper, the tech giant said in a statement.

“You can purchase even more games on the store, which will remain yours to play even if you cancel your Stadia Pro subscription,” said Google.

“If you’re already a paid Stadia Pro subscriber, we won’t charge you for the next two months. After that, Stadia Pro is $9.99 a month, but you can opt out of your subscription at any time”.

Video games can be a valuable way to socialize with friends and family when you’re stuck at home.

“Keeping social distance is vital, but staying home for long periods can be difficult and feel isolating,” said Phil Harrison, Google’s vice president for Stadia.

Google said free Stadia Pro offer is starting today and rolling out over the next 48 hours.

If you’re new, playing on Stadia is simple: Go to Stadia.com to sign up, download the Stadia app on Android or iOS and play on your laptop, desktop or Chrome OS tablet.

“Play over Wi-Fi on Pixel or many supported Android phones,” said Google.

The company said that with increased demand due to more people at home during this time, we’re taking a responsible approach to internet traffic.

“For Stadia, we’ve always adjusted bandwidth use based on a variety of in-home and local internet factors. To reduce load on the internet further, we’re working toward a temporary feature that changes the default screen resolution from 4k to 1080p,” informed Google.

The vast majority of people on a desktop or laptop won’t notice a significant drop in gameplay quality, but they can choose data usage options in the Stadia app.