After a three day event to show off new games for Stadia, along with three special demos now live you would think Google was having a good time. Unfortunately for them, one developer derailed it all.

For a quick recap of the Stadia event you can see day 1 here with PAC-MAN Mega Tunnel Battle, day 2 here with the HUMANKIND demo and as for day 3: you can now play a free demo of the upcoming Immortals Fenyx Rising free, they announced a new exclusive 'First on Stadia' title Young Souls and the strategy game Phoenix Point is coming to Stadia in 2021. Additionally, they expanded their invite system so that if you do invite a friend to Stadia, they will get two months of Stadia Pro free and if they continue with it you then get a month free to. See the Stadia community post for all the info on that.

So that all sounds pretty reasonable, some nice games coming to Google's Linux-powered streaming service Stadia. Where did it go wrong then? Well, they're currently enjoying a serious round of bad press and Stadia ended up trending all across Twitter, and not for positive reasons.

The problem was Alex Hutchinson, who according to their Twitter bio was the "Creative Director for Google Stadia" that tweeted out these thoughts :

Streamers worried about getting their content pulled because they used music they didn't pay for should be more worried by the fact that they're streaming games they didn't pay for as well. It's all gone as soon as publishers decide to enforce it.

As a bit of context here, Twitch has caused a lot of issues lately due to DMCA take-downs due to copyrighted music. You can see an overview on The Verge .

Hutchinson followed that tweet with :

The real truth is the streamers should be paying the developers and publishers of the games they stream. They should be buying a license like any real business and paying for the content they use.

Of course, that's not really a good look but they doubled down on it in another follow up tweet :

Amazing to me that people are upset at someone saying that the creators of content should be allowed to make some of the money from other people using their content for profit.

Not exactly a good look, coming from a person who works for a currently not exactly popular service streaming games. Even worse when they posted these up with what their Twitter bio said they were. However, they're not the Creative Director of Stadia as their profile originally said. They actually worked for Typhoon Studios, which Google acquired and then became part of Stadia Games and Entertainment. So they work for a smaller game studio that Google happens to now own to make games for Stadia. Hutchinson has since changed their Twitter bio to reflect that more clearly.

The problem though, is that their comments have been widely ridiculed and it caused Stadia to enjoy thousands of angry gamers, developers and publishers all calling out Hutchinson's comments. Their original tweet has been quote-tweeted over four thousand times.

It's an easy argument to deconstruct for how ridiculous it is too. Showing off a game is nothing like playing music, or a movie. It's not static content, it's transformed by the person playing it and it's free advertising for the developer and publisher. You need only look at some of the most popular PC games around to see how livestreaming has caused massive surged in people buying those games like Among Us ( source ):

Care to guess when livestreamers picked it up? As another very quick example, here's what happened to Freehold Games with their roguelike Caves of Qud when a single video was done on it, to be clear this is their "whole sales history" ( source ):

There's plenty of other examples of this but you get the idea. There's a reason why so many developers have blanket statements up approving the use of their games in videos. Most understand it's important, and plenty directly pay streamers to take a look at their game. When talking about huge games from big publishers, most developers involved likely never see a penny from the games doing well anyway - only the people at the top do, which makes it even more ridiculous to want to see more money from people showing it off.

What Hutchinson said doesn't even match up with how Google are working with Stadia either. Google are building in streaming features to Stadia, gave out early access to livestreamers to show off Stadia and more. Google aren't dumb and they've distanced themselves very clearly from Hutchinson in a statement to 9to5Google :

The recent tweets by Alex Hutchinson, creative director at the Montreal Studio of Stadia Games and Entertainment, do not reflect those of Stadia, YouTube or Google.

As someone who personally purchased the Stadia Founders Edition, I have been watching in horror.

While the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077 will not support the Linux desktop, it is at least confirmed to be launching on Stadia same-day as other platforms on November 19.

Giving players on Linux who use Stadia another way to play huge upcoming games, as all you need is a Chromium browser and a mouse or gamepad hooked up. If your country is in the supported list for Stadia, that is. Google has still yet to announce wider support for the game streaming service.

Stadia getting probably one of, if not the biggest release this year day and date with other platforms with Cyberpunk 2077 is pretty huge news and perhaps a show of how serious Google are about bringing more people and more games over to it.

From the press release:

“Huge in scale and scope, Cyberpunk 2077 is our most ambitious game to date. It’s humbling to see just how many people are looking forward to playing it, and we want to make it possible for as many gamers as possible come November 19th, when the game launches. The Stadia version will allow players to jump into Night City just seconds after the game unlocks for play worldwide without any downloads needed,” said Michał Nowakowski, SVP of Business Development, CD PROJEKT.

"CD PROJEKT RED are known for developing some of the biggest and best games ever created, and Cyberpunk 2077 is sure to deliver as the most anticipated game of the last few years. We're thrilled to announce that Cyberpunk 2077 will be available on Stadia November 19th. Cyberpunk 2077 on Stadia will allow gamers to play on their favorite screens and never have to wait for a download or install to get into, and explore, the depths of Night City," said Shanna Preve, Managing Director, Stadia Partnerships.

Plenty more footage was shown off recently too on the official YouTube , like this one showing off plenty of the vehicles you will be able to get your hands on:

Watch video on YouTube.com

They also confirmed that people who buy the game on Stadia will get a set of Cyberpunk 2077-themed digital goodies including: the game’s original score, art booklet, the original Cyberpunk 2020 sourcebook and Cyberpunk 2077: Your Voice comic book, as well as a set of wallpapers for desktop and mobile.

See Cyberpunk 2077 on Stadia .

It's worth noting also, that CD PROJEKT RED have been embroiled in plenty of controversy around Cyberpunk 2077. Video game journalist Jason Schreier has been covering it in detail , with a developer who was apparently confirmed to be working on it posting about the working conditions on Reddit too. Crunch is seriously terrible and it's such a massive shame these big games keep forcing such terrible conditions on developers.

Don't miss that we're expecting more big Stadia news next week , which we will be following along.

Another fresh set of games have been announced as either coming to Stadia or being added to Stadia Pro.

Google announced today that Dead By Daylight will launch free for Stadia Pro on October 1, and it will have cross-platform online play with all other platforms. That's huge and exactly how it should be done. Not only that, it's also coming with Crowd Choice, the new Stadia feature that's like Twitch integration - giving viewers of livestreams on YouTube the chance to vote on things. It was said that Crowd Choice will come to other games too like Baldu'rs Gate 3 and more to come.

More titles coming to Stadia Pro too. Human: Fall Flat is another new release and free also for Stadia Pro on October 1. Apart from that some existing games with SUPERHOT: MIND CONTROL DELETE , Celeste , Jotun and Lara Croft: Temple of Osiris will also be added to Stadia Pro.

However you need to act fast as Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom , The Turing Test , and Metro 2033 Redux will be leaving Stadia Pro so you have until the end of September 30 to claim and keep them - otherwise they will be available to purchase on Stadia as normal.

Watch video on YouTube.com

In other Stadia release news the four-player co-op action game Risk of Rain 2 is available as of today on Stadia for a time-limited early price of $19.99 / £15.99.

This week they've also put T om Clancy’s The Division 2 on a discount for the base game and the expansion. The Division 2 has cross-play with Windows too.

Personally, I am quite excited to try out Dead By Daylight. A game that doesn't support the Linux desktop and doesn't work in the Proton compatibility layer due to anti-cheat problems, so it's another case of Stadia giving an option without leaving your Linux desktop (if Stadia supports your country, that is).

See more on the Stadia store .

As Google continue to build up Stadia , they're gradually announcing more games coming and we have another three smaller indie titles now confirmed.

The first is Cake Bash , arriving on October 15 which is a four player party game where assorted forms of cake beat each other up. It sounds pretty amusing. The Stadia trailer gave nothing other than a release date, so here's a slightly older gameplay look:

Watch video on YouTube.com

Already available on Steam with no Linux desktop support.

Features:

• Rewarding exploration - Harnessing the power of the seasons, Ary can traverse sweeping landscapes in search of new destinations, solving amazing environmental puzzles to progress.
• Captivating storytelling - Ary is recruited to help the Guardians of Seasons, an old organization caught up by rigid traditions. As she ventures through uncharted locations across Valdi, Ary will discover secrets and hidden meanings behind the Guardian of Seasons.
• Dynamic environments - Manipulate the world around Ary with her environmental powers. Leap between ecosystems to bend the world and seasons to her needs.
• Fluid combat - Ary’s skills will be put to the test as she encounters foes looking to thwart her progress – from local inhabitants to hulking behemoths, she will use all the tools at her disposal to overcome monumental obstacles.
• Alluring 3D world - A beautiful visual style combined with an enchanting soundtrack creates a lingering atmosphere that will surely become a memorable gameplay experience.

These were announced the day after Amazon showed off Luna , which is Amazon's own take on game streaming. I'm sure the timing is unrelated but Google could have used this time for perhaps something a bit bigger to get more people talking about Stadia instead. Although, they did only recently get Serious Sam 4, the Hotline Miami series and they also announced multiple games coming from their Stadia Makers program .

Stadia is getting close to 100 games now, which is actually quite surprising and there's a lot more confirmed to be on the way. By the time Amazon Luna opens up to people, Stadia will have quite a big library ready for the competition. The competition will be good though, might light a fire under Google to build up Stadia even more.

Seems Google are getting a bit more chatty about Stadia recently. Hot on the heels of announcing another round of new indie games with Stadia Makers, we have another round-up for you.

For anyone with Stadia Pro, which is still free for a month when you sign up, you will able to play The Division 2 free from September 24 at 16:00 UTC until September 28 at 16:00 UTC. I actually think The Division 2 is one of the better ports on Stadia, with cross-play with the Windows version and it actually looks quite good.

On top of that, even more new games are here for Stadia:

• Serious Sam 4 - releases September 24 - $39.99 / £30.99
• The Elder Scrolls Online: Markarth - November 2 - the Prologue is free and available to play right now on Stadia
• Hotline Miami - out now - $9.99 / £8.99
• Hotline Miami 2 - out now - $14.99 / £12.99

Additionally, Crayta which is the Stadia exclusive game creation platform has been expanding quite a lot since the initial (and quite dissapointing) release. The next major upgrade goes live today with a bunch of new sci-fi content. It's also bringing new cosmetics, weekly login rewards, a themed hub-world game to unlock special outfits, new sci-fi themed games and so on.

Watch video on YouTube.com

Stadia is also getting more of a presence offline now too, as Google has announced that Best Buy in the USA will be stocking the Stadia Premiere Edition. This is the bundle that gives a Stadia Controller and a Chromecast Ultra for $99.99.

For all that and more head to Stadia .

Google has announced another wave of indie games are confirmed for Stadia, their game streaming service powered by Linux and Vulkan.

This is all part of the previously announced Stadia Makers program back in March during their Google for Games Keynote , where Google will directly support smaller teams using the Unity game engine to bring them to Stadia. As a result, another 7 have been announced to release at various dates. These newly announced titles are:

TOHU - coming "Fall 2020"

Watch video on YouTube.com

In other news, one of the biggest launches on Stadia with PUBG (PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS) is set to get an update in October than will remove the keyboard and mouse matchmaking option. This is really something, by the sounds of it the ability to play normal games of PUBG on Stadia with KB/M just won't be an option - it's going to force Gamepad play for matchmaking as per their blog post :

On Oct. 6, the Stadia mouse and keyboard matchmaking pool will be closed. Since launch, Stadia has given us the ability to reach a wider audience for new and returning players on an additional platform. As the service evolved, we found that a predominant amount of our players preferred to play with a controller. Due to this, we’ve decided to focus on the Stadia controller matchmaking pool, helping maximize our Battle Royale experience for players and giving them the best experience possible. While the consolidation of both matchmaking pools was explored, we felt that keeping a controller only queue was critical to upholding the competitive integrity of the player experience, as is the case with all our platforms. For refunds of content purchases, please contact Stadia Support at http://g.co/stadia/help to get in touch with an agent.

This highlights two things: the population on Stadia continues to be too low and matchmaking based on input isn't great to begin with on a platform like Stadia where people can play across so many devices.

Google have announced multiple new titles are coming to their Linux and Vulkan powered game streaming service, Stadia. This includes some pretty big and popular titles.

First up is the thoroughly challenging and extremely popular third-person action roguelike Risk of Rain 2, this one was actually confirmed directly by Hopoo Games. They may be a smaller studio but it's one of 2020's biggest Windows releases. No word on them supporting the Linux desktop with it but it does work with Steam Play Proton . Since it's primarily an online game though, there's always the chance it will break with Proton. Interestingly, Hopoo Games said the Stadia version was thanks to support from Google and it will have an exclusive bonus map called 'Sundered Grove' made by their partners at Ghostpunch.

Watch video on YouTube.com

In other Stadia related news, there's also a new browser extension you can use to enhance your experience. We've mentioned the open source Stadia Plus before, which upgrades Stadia with a bunch of new useful options but now there's also Stadia Enhanced which is also open source. They both tweak the store, give you codec resolution options, enable an overlay to see traffic, FPS and more. Really useful, check them out if you've not seen them before. It's genuinely very interesting how being browser-based for PC platforms, that others can make extensions to change how it works a little.

You can play with Stadia on Linux in any Chrome / Chromium browser.

For our regular readers who do use Stadia, how have you been finding it lately? Is it turning into the experience you wanted from a game streaming service that supports Linux? Or have you moved onto GeForce NOW? With GFN being also able to run on Linux in a browser (although unsupported). Let us know your current thoughts in the comments.

Are you a Stadia user or Stadia Pro subscriber? Well, some interesting news for you as Google have revealed what's coming for you in September and it's pretty good.

Stadia is the game streaming service, that works on pretty much anything with a Chromium-based browser. Powered by Linux and Vulkan in the cloud, it's slowly building up an interesting library of games to pick from. Stadia Pro is the optional monthly subscription, which gives you access to free games each month that once claimed you get to keep if you continue your Pro sub.

For September, Stadia Pro subs will be getting two limited time exclusives in addition to some titles new to Stadia:

• Super Bomberman R Online !, a 'First on Stadia' title with 64 player online play.
• Gunsport , an action-packed two-on-two competitive challenge. This is another 'First on Stadia' title.
• HITMAN , the classic stealth and assassination action experience - new to Stadia.
• Hello Neighbor - new to Stadia.
• Metro Last Light Redux , second in the FPS series that follows the Russian underground in a post-apocolypse setting.
• Embr , a firefighting game that pokes fun at the gig economy, see our initial thoughts on that here .

Not a bad little mix there. Additionally though, these titles will no longer be in Stadia Pro as of the end of August: Kona , GRID , and Get Packed —so claim them now or you will have to buy them as normal in September.

Watch video on YouTube.com

On top of that, they've announced that Windbound will be on Stadia at release on Friday, August 28. If you pick up Windbound 'Launch Edition' on Stadia between August 28 and September 11 and you’ll also get bonus in-game content, including the Ancestral Attire, Ancestral Oar, and Ancestral Knife.

Play on Stadia.com .

Today we round up some more Stadia news about new and upcoming titles for the game streaming store and service.

First up, a reminder that Rock of Ages III is a new free claimable game for Stadia Pro subscriptions which launched on August 14. It's a competitive tower defense and arcade game rolled into one with Monty Python-esque humour.

While Stadia already had them latest DOOM Eternal and DOOM 64 they were missing the DOOM from 2016 but no more. DOOM is now also up on Stadia as of August 18.

The recent SUPERHOT: MIND CONTROL DELETE is also now available on Stadia as of August 18 and it's absolutely worth picking up, I enjoyed blasting through it .

More newly confirmed to be coming:

• PGA Tour 2K21 is confirming for Stadia on August 21
• Spiritfarer is coming to Stadia on August 21
• Baldur's Gate 3 Early Access on Stadia (plus Steam) on September 30.

As a reminder of what else we know is coming to Stadia includes: Windbound , Hello Neighbo r, Hitman / Hitman 2 / Hitman 3 , Marvel's Avengers , Serious Sam 4 , Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice , Watch Dogs: Legion , Hello Neighbor: Hide & Seek , Assassins Creed Valhalla and more.

Now we have something of a rumour: the French outlet Rockstar Mag have sourced that mentioned Grand Theft Auto V will be arriving on Stadia when it's also release for the next-gen consoles. It's certainly possible and even probable it will, considering they already have Red Dead Redemption 2 up on Stadia.

See more on Stadia.com .