Google Stadia Founders Codes Have All Shipped, Confusion Continues

Google's foray into game streaming is off to a very bad start. That fact is even more painful for Founders, those who put their faith in the Stadia promise the earliest. It is only now that all Founders Edition access codes have been sent out, at least according to Google, more than two days after the service went live. That phase of the launch may be over but some of the finer details continue to unravel and continue to catch Stadia subscribers off guard.

Google was pretty proud and pretty insistent on portraying the fact that "Stadia is not a box", a not so subtle jab at gaming consoles and PCs. Despite that, or probably exactly because of that, its distribution of access codes to the service has been less than ideal. Many have already raised pitchforks and lit torches over how Google's "first come, first served" promise fell flat on its face on Day One.

Now Google is proudly announcing that all access codes for Founders Editions have been sent out. It's still a puzzle why it took so long to send out these digital pieces of data, even if you take their order into account. It's also perplexing why Google had to wait for physical packages to be shipped before sending out the codes, considering you could play Stadia almost anywhere anyway.

That ordeal may finally be over, presuming all Founders have actually already received their codes, but others are still in progress. In particular, it seems that Google needs a bit more practice in getting its message across accurately. The Stadia Twitter account earlier remarked that free games or games purchased with discounts on a Stadia Pro subscription will no longer be accessible of the subscription lapses, at least until you renew it.

Naturally, that sent the Internet into an uproar but fortunately, it was just a mistake. Only free games ties to Pro accounts will be inaccessible but any game purchased, whether in full or with a discount, continue to be yours to play even if the Pro subscription expires. The miscommunication, innocent as it may be, does reveal the ongoing difficulties and issues surrounding what some have already labeled as a complete flop.