Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Madden, and FIFA are coming to Stadia, eventually
Today's Stadia Connect update also revealed some 'First on Stadia' timed exclusives.
Google revealed during today's Stadia Connect stream that five Electronic Arts games are headed to its streaming platform, beginning with the 2019 third-person Force-em-up Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, which is expected to arrive on the platform sometime before the end of the year. FIFA and Madden NFL—I assume the 2020 editions of each, although that wasn't clarified—are slated to launch sometime in the winter.
"We’re thrilled to see some of Electronic Arts’ biggest hits come to the Stadia," Google Stadia vice president and general manager Phil Harrison said. "I can't wait to play EA Sports FIFA, Madden NFL, and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order on my favorite screens instantly with the simple click of a button."
He will wait, though, because it's currently April, which means that the end of the year is still eight months away, and "winter" could easily roll into 2021. Fallen Order and two major EA Sports games are significant pickups for Stadia, but that long, incredibly vague release window doesn't put it in a particularly good light, especially given that all three games originally came out last year. The other two of the five "announced" EA games coming to the platform weren't named and won't arrive until sometime in 2021, also not a particularly good look.
Google also announced during the stream that Zombie Army 4: Dead War will launch on Stadia on May 1 and will be added to the selection of free available to Stadia Pro subscribers, as will Steamworld Dig 2 and The Turing Test. A handful of timed-exclusive "First on Stadia" games were also revealed: Crayta, which to my eye looks an awful lot like a standalone Fortnite Creative mode, the third-person jetskiing game Wave Break, and the physics-based co-op moving company sim Get Packed. PUBG, Octopath Traveler, and Rock of Ages 3: Make and Break are also coming to the platform.
Google recently made the subscription-based Stadia Pro free for two months to gamers in Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, the UK, and the US. It also rolled out the free version of Stadia, which enables users to purchase and play games through its store but restricts streaming resolution to 1080p, but it's now called simply Stadia, rather than "Stadia Base" as it was originally known.
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Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.