Stadia Premiere is discounted to $100 indefinitely

[Cal Jeffrey]

Why it matters: Google has not released any official numbers regarding how many Stadia users it has, so it's hard to tell how well the platform is performing. However, the company continues to promote and offer discounts frequently. Its latest move seems to be to drop the Premiere Edition bundle to $100.

On Tuesday, Google reduced the price of its Stadia Premiere Edition from $129.99 to $99.99. The price drop is not the first we have seen. In March, it knocked off $30 for one day to celebrate the release of Doom Eternal. Although this time the discount appears to be permanent.

There is one caveat, however (isn't there always). The package no longer includes three months of Stadia Pro for free. At $10 per month, this explains how Google is making up the difference. That said, you can still get a one-month trial separate from the Premiere package.

"Stadia Premiere Edition is now $99.99. Instead of including a code for Stadia Pro in Premiere Edition, new users can get Stadia Pro for free by signing up at [the Stadia website]."

You don't need a Stadia Pro subscription to play streaming games on any device. You do have to purchase the games, however. One of the perks of Pro membership is that there is a built-in selection of games to play for free. The list is up to 18 now, with The Elder Scrolls Online being the latest addition. Stadia launched TESO this morning, coinciding with the price cut. Pro membership also allows you to stream games at 4K HDR with 5.1 surround sound.

The Elder Scrolls Online is here and it's yours to play for free with #StadiaPro!

Check out our blog for all the details: https://t.co/2YD4EOhSwj pic.twitter.com/Ej7B58O15T

— Stadia (@GoogleStadia) June 16, 2020

How much you are really saving depends on how you look at it. If you adjust today's bundle to the previous offering (add the three months to the package), it will cost you $120. You only save $10. You could also look at the cost of buying everything separately. The controller runs $69, as does the required Chromecast Ultra. Toss in the one-month free trial, and that's nearly $150, so you're saving about $50.

The lower cost for entry is a good thing as Google continues to build the brand, but it has a long way to go. The biggest problem is Stadia lacks exclusives, which are typically what sell physical systems. So its value is still hotly debated among gamers, especially if they already own the games on another platform.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/85659-stadia-premiere-discounted-100-indefinitely.html

 

[brucek]

Do Stadia and its ilk have published policies on how often they upgrade GPU power? Take all the recent stories on new generation GPUs to appear later this year from Nvidia and AMD. If your game library is on Stadia, will they be upgrading to the new generation promptly? Or are you locked into the prior generation for as long as it takes these services to decide to upgrade their GPUs for you?

 

[toooooot]

Can someone tell me how close is google to abandoning this project? Are we talking months, days?

 

[Reehahs]

The controller is nice to use.

 

[Giacobbe Orsini]

Can someone tell me how close is google to abandoning this project? Are we talking months, days?

I really need a new controller... Maybe in a few month I'll be able to buy those nice controllers for pennies on ebay if the platform fails

 

[OortCloud]

A whiff of early desperation? You decide.

 

[ZedRM]

Stadia Premiere is discounted to $100 indefinitely

Until it's discontinued, which is coming soon!

 

[Cal Jeffrey]

The problem here is that there is no added value. Bumping Premier down to $100 while removing the free three months of Stadia Pro, means all that is on offer is the controller and the Chromecast Ultra. Neither of these is necessary unless you are planning to play on your TV, and even then you don't need the controller if you already have any console controllers lying around. So you are saving $40 total ($20 off the CCU and $20 of the Stafia controller). Since most people are in the position of having a compatible controller already, the proposition is either $100 for Chomecast Ultra and a controller they don't need or $70 for just CCU. What's the better value from the market's standpoint?