Although the purchase of Stadia comes with a Chromecast Ultra, if you have one now you will have to wait to use it. Those outside of the Founder's Edition will have to wait a few days for a specific update.
Stadia's situation continues to worsen due to Google's erratic organization. First, there were complaints that people who pre-ordered wouldn't receive their Founder's Editions until days after launch. This was blamed on Google's logistics team. And now, a Reddit AMA has revealed that people won't even be able to use existing Chromecast Ultras with Stadia's launch. They'll have to wait for a firmware update, but that only applies to those who already own a Chromecast.
Reddit user livenetwork asked whether or not current Chromecast Ultra devices would receive the firmware update to play Stadia on November 19 or if they would have to use the Chromecast Ultra shipped with the Founder's Edition. And the response was worrying, to say the least.
Stadia Product Director Andrey Doronichev said: “On launch day, you should be using the Chromecast Ultra that came in your box. It has the latest firmware. We will update existing Chromecast Ultras shortly after launch.”
Bad management of the streaming service
The nicest thing we can say is that this gives Stadia little confidence. Google is one of the largest companies in the world and it is not clear how they do not send an update so that people who already have the Chromecast Ultra can play on launch day.
“Shortly after launch” could mean any number of things. We don’t know if this will mean a few hours (which would be acceptable) or a few days (most likely). But given that some people won’t even receive their package for a few days until after launch and Doronichev is encouraging the Reddit user to use the Chromecast Ultra that comes with Stadia, it doesn’t sound promising.
Google is making a huge investment in Google Stadia, and this lack of control makes no sense. People are confused about what Stadia is , don't know if they need hardware, and are unaware that the service will launch for free in 2020.
Source: Android Central
