Google Stadia Players Can Now Join Games Without Waiting For An Invite

Google's cloud-based gaming platform Stadia has received a small update that will make playing games with friends much easier going forward. In an updated support document, the company revealed that Google Stadia players can now join their friends' games without first receiving an invite, mirroring the option available on traditional gaming consoles.

The Stadia change was rolled out quietly and first spotted by 9to5Google, which points to an updated Stadia support document with the new feature details. Put simply, Stadia players can now join multiplayer games their friends are playing without asking them to send an invite. This feature is only supported by some games, however.

Anyone who has played games on Xbox and PlayStation is likely very familiar with this sort of feature. A Fortnite player, for example, can view and join their friends' existing matches without requesting an invite as long as their friend doesn't have the match set to private. Stadia, as exciting as it is, launched without these sort of arguably basic features.

According to Google, the ability to join supported multiplayer games without an invite is disabled by default. Players who want to enable the feature will need to open Your Activity > Current Game > "Join your current game." Enabling this feature will make it possible for friends to join the match even if you don't send them an invite.

Google offers some control over this feature, however, by allowing players to decide whether they want to limit invite-free gaming sessions to only friends or make the opportunity available for all players. Users who aren't in the mood for random multiplayer sessions can set their game to "Only You," "Private," or toggle the "Join your current game" feature off in the same menu used to enable it.