Google's Stadia Controller Is Getting Bluetooth Support

Google is launching its final Stadia game today and is promising to release a tool next week to enable Bluetooth connections on its Stadia Controller. The Verge reports: The last Stadia game to launch on the service is Worm Game, a test game that was technically available on Stadia before Stadia launched publicly in November 2019. Developers at Google have decided to release the game just before the streaming service disappears next week. [...] Alongside the new game, Google is also committing to enabling Bluetooth on Stadia controllers. Google Stadia owners will be pleased to hear there's a self-serve tool coming next week that will enable Bluetooth on the Stadia Controller. "We'll share details next week on how to enable this feature," says a Google Stadia community manager in a forum post.

Google originally launched the Stadia Controller as a device that connects directly to Stadia services and had the Bluetooth chip disabled. After news broke of the Stadia shutdown, fans have been finding ways to save the controller from an e-waste fate by using workarounds to connect it wirelessly to other devices. Workarounds like connecting to an Android device will no longer be required thanks to this new tool. It means that most Stadia players that purchased a Founders or Premiere edition will have been effectively gifted a free Bluetooth controller thanks to Google's refunds.

Say what?

[quonset]

Developers at Google have decided to release the game just before the streaming service disappears next week.

Why would they release a game only to shut down the service right afterwards? Can someone explain?

Re:

[bloodhawk]

spite, a last fuck you to people that bought into it thinking maybe this time google won't screw them over.

Re:

[OriolFM]

Of course it's a pity that I'll lose some of the savegames and can't sync them to my PC, and it buggers me that I can't keep playing some of the next-gen games on my TV, but this minor annoyance is easily balanced by the fun I had while playing.

I got fully refunded by Google, which means I got 2 controllers, 2 chromecast ultras, and a lot of game hours to play essentially for free.

In any case, during this time the GPU prices went down again and I was recently able to update my PC, so I used my refund from C

Re:

[rsilvergun]

Because a whole bunch of artists worked on it and they want to at least say they released it and maybe have a few people play it.

With how many souls corporations are involved in games and how many evil live services games are there we sometimes forget there are artists to pour their heart and soul into these things despite the corporate ghouls.

Re:

[schweini]

"Play the game that came to Stadia before Stadia came to the world. “Worm Game” is a humble title we used to test many of Stadia’s features, starting well before our 2019 public launch, right through 2022. It won’t win Game of the Year, but the Stadia team spent a LOT of time playing it, and we thought we’d share it with you. Thanks for playing, and for everything."
It's just a Nibbles/Snake game.

Re:

[NFN_NLN]

> At least strippers are nice about it,

Please state your location... for science.

Hahaha

[olsmeister]

I just threw one out last week.

Re:

[drinkypoo]

I just threw one out last week.

Great, brag about how wasteful you are. I would have been stunned if nobody came out with a patch to enable bluetooth.

Re:

[RevRagnarok]

Why? It's still a full controller under Steam when you plug a USB-C cable into it. I use it all the time that way.

Sad.

[Qbertino]

Google just doesn't seem to care.

Why didn't they focus on high quality web games? Or high quality games for android devices? With those hundreds of millions wasted they could've bought every excellent and good indie game out there and have it ported to optimized wasm & webgl and actually open a niche in the gaming market and still have hundreds of millions in cash to spare.

It's strange how a company with billions to spare goes into same insane spending sprees like those Lotto millionaires.

Too Late?

[anonymouscoward52236]

I'm sure most have already thrown their Stadia controllers in the trash. What did they think people are a bunch of hoarding packrats or something?

Re:

[AmiMoJo]

No good deed...

Come on, how many other companies both REFUNDED the cost of the hardware and then released an update so you can use your free hardware with other systems?

They are quite decent controllers too.

Re: Too Late?

[Moochman]

The controllers work with USB as is.. Just saying

Re:

[thegarbz]

I'm sure most have already thrown their Stadia controllers in the trash.

Why would they have done that? Stadia didn't shut down until today.

Never been more happy to subscribe to YouTube prem

[forceshield]

Free Chromecast ultra and now a free BT controller.