Google’s online gaming service, Stadia, has officially been around for one year, and it’s gone through quite a bit these past twelve months. Stadia didn’t exactly set the gaming world on fire when it initially launched, with many critics and players deeming it failure right off the bat. Despite this, Google carried on with continual updates to the service, which included a free subscription tier, and added plethora of new titles to their library. Now Google is looking to expand the platform even more as the company has announced that the service will be making its way to iOS as web app through the mobile version of Apple’s web browser, Safari.
Microsoft is doing something similar with their xCloud service for iOS, which is due for some time in 2021. It looks like Google is intending to beat them to the punch, as they also revealed that public beta testing for Stadia on iOS will begin in the coming weeks with potential start time in December. Google and Microsoft aren’t the only ones that are trying to make a workaround on Apple’s internal operating system. Nvidia also announced that their online gaming service, GeForce Now, is currently in beta testing for iOS, something that a lot of developers may have taken notice of.
One developer, in particular, Epic Games, might utilize this as an opportunity to bring back their extremely popular game Fortnite to iOS devices, circumventing the ban that Apple has put on the developer’s title. The legal battle between Epic Games and Apple has been well documented over these past few months, with the most recent victory being given to Apple as Epic Games’ preliminary injunction was denied. Neither Nvidia nor Epic Games have made any official comment on whether the developer could use this as a backdoor back into iOS, but since this information is already out in the open, it’s more than likely that a statement will be made at one point or another.
As for Google’s Stadia, they’re also throwing in one heck of a promotion to coincide with the announcement and the one year anniversary. If you pre-order the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077, or buy the game before December 17, you’ll be given free Stadia Premier Edition Bundle. This bundle includes both the Stadia Controller and Chromecast Ultra so you can stream it to your television. Google says that this promotion is “while supplies last” so if you’re interested in both Cyberpunk 2077 and Stadia, then this promotion is the one for you. It’s important to note that you’ll need to purchase the game through Stadia itself which you can find here.