Google drops ‘Base’ tier, launches free Stadia plan

Looks like Google’s experiment with the free two months of Stadia Pro have been so successful, they’re launching a permanent version for the platform.

Free play… kinda

If you haven’t been following along, it’s been an interesting few months for Google’s Stadia. The streaming-only, multi-platform games service “Pro” tier got a free period, with the dawn of the coronavirus pandemic.

The idea behind that was to give gamers something to play with, and of course to try to gain some new subscribers. The result was a success, with a boost that brought the install base up to some 1 million people.

So it’s easy to see then, why the company would want to carry that promotion over, and turn it into something a little more permanent. That’s just what we have with the new ‘free’ tier.

At the close of the current promo period, Google will continue to offer free subscriptions as a new tier that will replace the currently existing ‘Base’ tier. The new free version of Stadia will be capped at a resolution of 1080p/60fps, just as it is now during the promo. It’ll include access to Stadia streaming, and Stadia’s catalog of games ready for purchase. Those are all available to buy a’la carte of course.

Speaking of, Google reportedly says that current paid subscribers can allow their subs to expire, and keep their access to games that they’ve bought. So if you’ve been playing on the free edition, and don’t want to pay for Pro when it runs out, you can keep on playing under the free version’s banner.

All in all, it seems like a solid deal. Just remember, before you actually pay for anything related to Stadia, to check your streaming capabilities first. You need to have a pretty zip connection to make this thing go.

Source: MCV