Google Stadia boss Phil Harrison has confirmed that games will remain available to players who’ve purchased them on its streaming platform even if the publisher or developer pulls the game from sale.
“Yes, you will still be able to access the game,” Harrison told GamesRadar+, reaffirming that games will remain available even if support for them was pulled several years down the line. “Now, there may be – as we’ve seen in the past – there may be times where a developer or publisher no longer has the rights to sell to new players. That would mean that the game will not be available to new players, but it will continue to be available for existing players.”
This means that players streaming games that have unforeseen changes in their publishing status – such as the recent removal of Telltale games from digital storefronts, or Konami’s decision to pull the P.T. demo from the PSN Store – the player will continue to retain access to the game if they’ve already purchased it.
Google revealed details about Stadia’s launch at E3 2019. Launching in 14 countries in November 2019, initially, it will only be available as a £9/$10/€10 per month subscription called Stadia Pro, which will provide 4K/60fps streaming, along with a catalogue of existing titles – much like Xbox Game Pass. Subscribing will also give full access to Destiny 2 and all its content, though that’s a limited time offer.
A service with no monthly fee, called Stadia Base, will launch sometime in 2020, without any library of content. This service will be limited to 1080p streaming. Bandwidth requirements start at just 10mbit/s download and go up to 35mbit/s for the full experience. Both services will require consumers to outright purchase new releases in order to play them, presumably at typical retail prices through a Stadia store (though as yet this hasn’t been detailed).
