With Stadia’s demise only days away, Google confirmed that it will push out Bluetooth support for Stadia Controllers. The revelation that Stadia will be shutting down surprised early investors who Google had assured that the cloud gaming service would not be discontinued. Google, at the very least, is refunding all Stadia purchases. It is also adding Bluetooth connectivity to its controllers, allowing them to be used after Stadia has ended.
Google Stadia will be closing down in September 2022, according to the release. Google announced that Google Stadia servers will stay operational until January 18, 2023, after which time games bought on Google Stadia would no longer be accessible. Beginning in November, Google started issuing refunds for Stadia Store sales of games and hardware. Users would not be required to return hardware purchases.
We've also got Bluetooth news: next week we'll be releasing a self-serve tool to enable Bluetooth connections on your Stadia Controller.
We'll share details here on release. pic.twitter.com/6vYomngfmA
— Stadia ??? (@GoogleStadia) January 13, 2023
Users will be allowed to utilise their Stadia controllers at home when Stadia are going down. The Stadia controller, however, could only be used on a PC through a cable connection. Bluetooth is not presently supported. According to sources, Google was considering implementing Bluetooth for Stadia Controllers, although no commitments were given at the time. That has now changed, as Google has stunned Stadia enthusiasts by confirming that Bluetooth functionality will be available shortly.
The official Stadia account tweeted on Friday that it would release a utility next week that will enable Bluetooth for the Stadia Controller. Details on how to utilise the tool have yet to be removed and will not be accessible until the tool is fully operational. Users will very certainly need to connect their controller to a PC through a wired connection in order to get an update. Stadia users should have retained their equipment.
A regrettable number of Stadia Controllers would probably have been disposed of away without this update. Wired PC controllers aren’t uncommon, but Bluetooth makes them much more accessible. That isn’t to mean that there won’t be a lot of Stadia Controllers thrown away. The amount of Stadia aficionados who wish to keep using the controller is likely to be tiny.
Overall, Google’s gesture is commendable. With Stadia’s demise in less than a week, Google could have effectively shut down the whole project and never looked back. Users may anticipate further details on Bluetooth compatibility for Stadia Controllers next week, and they should play their Google Stadia games one more time before the servers go down on January 18.
