A little bit ago, I read an article on The Verge about how Google is offering the Stadia Premiere Edition for free to existing YouTube Premium subscribers.
I did a double-take. I just spent the morning scouring the Internet for online retailers with the XBox X in stock and here comes Google offering what normally is $100 for free.
Want to take advantage of this offer? Here’s the link.
Of course, there’s a bit of fine print:
Eligibility
The Offer is only open to YouTube Premium Members who meet ALL the following eligibility criteria:
- have an active paid YouTube Premium subscription as of November 06, 2020;
- 18 years or older residents of the United States (excluding Hawaii, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands). Supervised family link users are not eligible to participate in this Offer; and
- accept these Terms & Conditions (“Offer T&Cs”) below by November 20, 2020 11:59 pm GMT. Offer will be available on a first come, first served basis, subject to availability; and
- create or have an existing Stadia Pro account or have had one in the past including Stadia Pro trials using the same Google Account as the YouTube Premium subscription by November 29, 2020 11:59 pm GMT.
So, if you happen to be a gamer who hasn’t been able to score a preorder XBox X or a PS5 and failed to grab the former today, this may be your chance to get a new gaming system for nothing (assuming you meet all the criteria).
As for Stadia itself, I’ll post a proper review here soon but I’ve used Stadia Pro on and off for about five months using a laptop and XBox controller with next to no issues. I’ll add that I live in Alaska, which is typically on the outskirts of what streaming gaming services like. Amazon’s Luna isn’t available here, for example.
Anyway, the selection of games you get with a Pro subscription is pretty good and covers a wide range of games, from racing to FPS, platformers and more. If you’re able to get it for free, I’d take advantage of it. Even with a $9.99 monthly subscription, it’s great.
Do note that the Chromecast is not the new fancy one that just came out recently. So, just something to keep in mind.