Google Details Stadia Pro Free Games, Achievements, Voice Chat, Family Sharing, Steam
Paolo Sirio 
Google Stadia development team held a Reddit AMA, providing fans of exciting tidbits about the upcoming game streaming platform. The system is set to release for early access called the Founder’s Edition in Nov. 2019.
The director of the product, Andrey Doronichev, shared that Google doesn’t see the Stadia Pro subscription as the “Netflix of games.” This approach means their plan won’t give players access to a full library of titles, but it’s “a lot like Xbox Live Gold or Playstation Plus.”
Doronichev detailed that “the Pro subscribers get 4K/HDR streaming, 5.1 sound, exclusive discounts and access to some free games.” Most importantly, the collection of titles coming with it includes “roughly one free game per month, give or take.”
Doronichev also pointed out at achievements planned for a release on Google Stadia, although we’ll have to wait a little longer for the full details.
“Of course we’ll have something similar to other platforms,” Doronichev said. “However, it will not be there immediately at launch. Will come a little bit later.”
As explained by Doronichev, a few free-to-play games are going to get announced to come to the platform. Additionally, “at launch you’ll be able to manage your friends list, create parties and use platform-level voice chat.” They confirmed this wouldn’t get handled Google and remains with individual devs. “And that’s just the beginning. We also have a healthy pipeline of social features going forward.”
Family sharing, a feature that allows you to extend your library of content to other players in your family, releases in early 2020. The Google team is “working on it, but won’t be ready by November — need a bit more time.”
When asked about chances of a partnership with Steam, Doronichev said that Google is “always evaluating our options to make Stadia a better place for the gamers :).” Currently, we don’t know what that would get used for on the system. Perhaps cross-saves and cross-play, but we’ll see, as it is a possibility the team is not ruling out.
And, finally, mod support is also something getting looked into at this time. It won’t be there on day one but, “we’d like to in the future. We’re working with developers now to find the best way to do this.” With more RPGs coming to the platform, that’s something people will continue asking about until they finish, rest assured.
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