Google TV Won't Get Stadia Until Early Next Year

Google Stadia won't be working on Google TV until some time in the first half of the year 2021. An announcement from the Stadia team at Google came soon after the big reveal of the first Chromecast with Google TV. This is strange, considering the fact that some Android TV devices have had Stadia support since earlier this summer.

Earlier this year, Stadia began working on some Android TV devices. If you'll look back to August 10, 2020, you'll see the point at which Android TV got 4K HDR support for Stadia, too. Now, as Google TV is set for launch on the device called "Chromecast with Google TV", it would seem there's a bit of a disconnect.

We know the Chromecast with Google TV device is capable of running Stadia. We also know that Google's not quite prepared to release a fully-functional iteration of the Stadia app for the Google TV platform. Given what we understand about Google's aim with Google TV, as a future go-to place for smart TV functionality, it feels a bit odd that they didn't include their most monstrously important gaming product to date... from the start.

On the other hand, there are ways in which your everyday average Stadia fan can get Stadia to work on the first Google TV device (Chromecast with Google TV). One is side-loading the Stadia App, another is playing via a Chrome web browser, in-browser. In any case, early tests seem to rely largely on the official Stadia Controller – just so that's clear. Otherwise you might want to seek out a Chromecast Ultra which, as of this week, is no longer sold separate from the Stadia Premiere Edition kit – so good luck to us all!