Google Stadia adds support for the OnePlus 8, mobile captures on the Stadia controller, and will get Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla

Google Stadia is quickly growing to be one of the best cloud gaming platforms, and there’s no sign that Google is slowing down anytime soon. Every month, Google makes improvements to the service and announces new games. April has been one of the biggest months for new Stadia features and launches. Just a few days ago, Google held another Stadia Connect where they announced a bunch of new and expanded partnerships with companies like EA and Square Enix. Today, Google published a blog post summarizing all the changes they made to Stadia in April as well as announcing the upcoming release of a new Stadia Pro game and support for more Android smartphones.

During this month, 8 new titles have already become available with 17 more to be launched at some point later this year. The content that became available this month include Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 – Ultra Pack 1, Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 – Ultra Pack 2, Get Packed, Monopoly, MotoGP 20, Octopath Traveler, PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS, and Stacks On Stacks (On Stacks). The games coming to Stadia this year are Crayta, Embr, F1 2020, FIFA, Gunsport, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Just Shapes & Beats, KONA, Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris, Madden NFL, Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom, République, Rock of Ages 3, Wave Break, West of Loathing, and Zombie Army 4: Dead War.

In May, Stadia Pro members will be able to claim PUBG, Zombie Army 4: Dead War, The Turing Test, and SteamWorld Heist for free, while existing games that are still available to add to your collection include Destiny 2, GRID, GYLT, Serious Sam Collection, Spitlings, Stacks On Stacks (On Stacks), SteamWorld Dig 2, and SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech.

Joining all of these titles will be Ubisoft’s upcoming Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla. This title will be available on Stadia at launch later this year. Ubisoft didn’t give an official release date for Valhalla, but they did say we should expect it to launch during the holidays this year, which is around November to December. The trailer makes the game look really exciting, and it could end up being another great title in the Assassin’s Creed universe.

Along with these new games, Google made a lot of technical improvements to Stadia as well. Here’s a summary:

• Stadia now supports something they call “Click to Play.” This lets you click a link and instantly be brought into a game, which is PUBG in the case of this hyperlink.
• Google also added support for 5.1 surround sound (for Pro members) and an on-screen keyboard to Stadia on the web.
• On the mobile side, Stadia will now give you notifications if the connection quality gets worse and the status icon now changes based on the quality.

A few more important changes for Stadia mobile relate to device support and mobile captures. Earlier this month, Google announced they would add support for streaming games in the Android app on the OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro. As the two latest 5G phones to launch internationally, it’s really nice to have support for these devices. I can confirm that the Stadia app does now work on my OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro units, and it’s a very pleasant experience with such large screens.

Google also added support for capturing game clips from mobile. The Stadia Controller has a dedicated button for capturing either a screenshot or 30-second video clip. Previously, this button only worked when you were playing on the Chromecast Ultra, but it now works on phones using the Stadia mobile app.

Stadia has been getting a lot of improvements in a short amount of time and it is quickly becoming a really good cloud gaming service. I’m excited about the future of Stadia and cloud gaming as a whole. As Internet speeds are getting faster and latency is getting lower, gaming will become more and more accessible and convenient. If you haven’t tried the service yet, you can sign up for 2 months of a free Pro membership.

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