Google Stadia Gets A Big Expansion In Time For Cyberpunk 2077

Today is a big day for Google Stadia, because it's getting a major expansion. Stadia is heading to eight new countries in Europe today, significantly expanding the service's footprint. Even better is the fact that service is going live just a few days before Cyberpunk 2077 is due to launch, giving those without a console or capable PC a way to play it.

Specifically, Stadia is going live in Austria, Czechia, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, and Switzerland today. If you're living in one of those countries, you can sign up for the service over on Stadia's website (so long as you have a Gmail account). Google also notes that the roll out will take around 24 hours to complete, so if you aren't able to sign up right away, that's probably why.

As Google points out in its announcement today, everyone who signs up for Stadia has access to two free-to-play games right off the bat: Destiny 2 and Bomberman R Online. Of course, Google is also offering Stadia Pro subscriptions in all of these new regions as well, and the running rate in all eight countries is €9.99 a month.

With this launch in more European nations, Stadia is definitely closing out 2020 with a bang. Last month, it announced that it would soon begin testing for a browser-based implementation of Stadia for iOS. At one point in the past, it seemed that iOS was essentially out of the question for streaming services like Stadia, Microsoft's Project xCloud, and Amazon Luna, but Safari-based webapps allow these companies to sidestep the iOS App Store's rather strict rules surrounding game streaming.

We still don't know when iOS streaming will be available to all Stadia users, but we'll let you know when Google shares more. Similarly, we'll let you know when Stadia expands to other regions – here's hoping it won't be long before Stadia expands to another handful of countries, so stay tuned for more.