Save on games including Watch Dogs: Legion and Marvel’s Avengers in the Stadia Black Friday sale.
The future of video gaming is in the cloud, according to Google, Amazon and, to some extent, Microsoft. And maybe it is, but for the moment services like Stadia feel like platforms of potential rather than the next big thing.
If you have wanted to experience video game streaming but held back because of Stadia’s pricing model, the new Black Friday sale might tempt you.
Recent releases to get modest discounts include Watch Dogs: Legion, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, and Marvel’s Avengers. Bigger savings can be found on slightly older titles like Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.
Here’s the full list of included games. Head over to the Stadia store to make your purchase and start streaming.
Google Stadia Black Friday Sale
- Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
- Borderlands 3
- Borderlands 3: Super Deluxe Edition
- Destiny 2: Forsaken
- Destiny 2: Shadowkeep
- Doom
- Doom 64
- Doom Eternal
- Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2
- Far Cry New Dawn
- Far Cry 5
- Ghost Recon Wildlands
- Grid
- Hitman
- Just Dance 2020
- Lara Croft and the Temple Of Osiris
- Little Nightmares
- Marvel’s Avengers
- Metro 2033 Redux
- Metro Last Light Redux
- Monopoly
- Mortal Kombat 11
- NBA 2K21
- PGA Tour 2K21 Digital Deluxe
- Rage 2
- Red Dead Redemption 2
- Rise Of The Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration
- Shadow Of The Tomb Raider
- Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
- The Crew 2
- The Division 2 – Standard Edition
- The Elder Scrolls Online: Standard Edition
- Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition
- Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint
- Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands
- Trials Rising
- Uno
- Watch Dogs: Legion
- Wolfenstein: Youngblood
- WWE 2K Battlegrounds
Or should that be start buffering?
Here’s a true story. I am precisely the type of player I refer to at the top of this post. I like the idea of Stadia, but dropping £60 on a game out of curiosity was never going to happen.
However, last week Destiny 2 went free-to-play on Stadia. I hooked a DualShock 4 up to my laptop and had a grand old time. The game’s performance was excellent, and I came away thoroughly impressed. So, a few hours ago I dropped £19 on Assassin’s Creed Odyssey in the Stadia Black Friday sale.
For a reason I can’t determine, the game runs like a slug impersonating Max Headroom, alternating between super slow and super choppy. A quick check on the Stadia speed test returns a result of 85.352 Mbps, with a statement saying: “we expect you’ll have a high-performance gaming experience on Stadia.”
A quick trip back to Destiny 2 backs this up. The game runs beautifully. But every time I play Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, the stream descends into a pixelated mess. I’m sure there’s a reason, but really, life’s too short.
Google’s refund policy is reasonable enough, and I won’t hold a grudge, but until I have confidence in Stadia performing consistently, I won’t be buying any more games.
For more Black Friday bargains, catch up with the latest sales on Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch. And don’t forget to follow Thumbsticks on Flipboard, Facebook, Google News, and Twitter.
