Google’s Launch Lineup for Stadia Is Pretty Depressing

Revealed with enormous fanfare, we’ve heard precious little about Google’s ambitious game streaming service recently, a service that’s supposed to launch early next week. It’s a little weird that until this morning, we didn’t even know what games Stadia would be launching with, but in a blog post, the company announced its not particularly inspiring lineup.

On November 19, the day Stadia launches for the public, here’s what you can play:

• Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
• Destiny 2: The Collection
• GYLT
• Just Dance 2020
• Kine
• Mortal Kombat 11
• Red Dead Redemption 2
• Rise of the Tomb Raider
• Samurai Shodown
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition
• Thumper
• Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition

Yes, you read that right—three of Stadia’s 12 launch games are Tomb Raider re-releases. The only exclusive here is GYLT, a creepy adventure game from Tequila Works, the developers of Rime and The Sexy Brutale. One of the games, Thumper, is a music rhythm game that demands absolute precision from players, and two others— Mortal Kombat 11, Samurai Showdown—are fighting games, where the presence of input lag would be a killer.

There are, however, other games coming before the end of 2019, including:

• Attack on Titan 2: Final Battle
• Borderlands 3
• Darksiders Genesis
• Dragonball Xenoverse 2
• Farming Simulator 19
• Final Fantasy XV
• Football Manager 2020
• Ghost Recon Breakpoint
• GRID
• Metro Exodus
• NBA 2K20
• Rage 2
• Trials Rising
• Wolfenstein Youngblood

No pricing has been announced for any of these games. Eventually, Google will offer a free service where you can login from any device and start playing, but for launch, you’ll need to purchase what it’s calling the Stadia Premiere Edition, a $130 package with a Chromecast Ultra, three months of their Stadia Pro subscription service, and a Stadia-specific controller.

A bummer for Google must have been the delay of DOOM Eternal into 2020; the shooter has consistently been one of the games highlighted as a showcase for the streaming tech.

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