What regions is Stadia available in?
Best answer: When Stadia launched it was available in 14 markets, including the U.S., Canada, U.K., and parts of Europe. Over time it has gradually added a handful of other markets. You can find the full list down below.
- Stream to your TV: Chromecast with Google TV ($50 at Best Buy)
- Start playing with Stadia: Stadia Premiere Edition ($100 at Best Buy)
What's the full list of countries where Stadia is available?
Google Stadia had a limited number of initial markets that it's available in and nearly a year and a half later that number hasn't increased very much. More will hopefully get added soon as Stadia grows and Google builds out its infrastructure more, so we'll update this list as that happens.
The full list of countries that Stadia is currently available in includes:
- U.S.A., including Alaska and Puerto Rico (Stadia is not available in Hawaii or Guam)
- U.K.
- Canada
- France
- Italy
- Germany
- Austria
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Denmark
- Norway
- Finland
- Belgium
- Ireland
- Netherlands
- Poland (Stadia controller not available for sale here)
- Portugal (Stadia controller itself not available for sale here)
- Czech Republic (Stadia controller itself not available for sale here)
- Slovakia (Stadia controller itself not available for sale here)
- Romania (Stadia controller itself not available for sale here)
- Hungary (Stadia controller itself not available for sale here)
Additionally, Google clarifies that a Stadia Controller or Chromecast Ultra purchased in a European country where it is available, either separately or as part of a Premiere Edition bundle, will work in Poland, Portugal, The Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, and Hungary. You can find more answers to questions related to regional availability on the Google Support page for Stadia.
Why just the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and parts of Europe?
Looking at the above list, there's an evident lack of several significant parts of the world, including Australia, Asia, India, Africa, South America, and sections of Europe. So why is Stadia limited to these markets still?
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Presumably, Google sees these areas as the most important markets to target, and these regions already have decent internet infrastructures. The company otherwise did not specify the reasoning for this decision on Stadia regions. As of right now, there's no information on availability in Australia, South America, Asia, India, or Africa.
Will Stadia ever be released in other territories?
Don't expect Stadia to stop there and leave out so many markets. The door is open for a broader release in more territories at some point in the future. We'll be sure to update you when we have more information.
Stadia head of engineering Majd Bakar describes Google's data center network as "fiber optic links and subsea cables between hundreds of points of presence and more than 7,500 edge node locations around the globe, all connected with our network backbone." With this type of infrastructure in place on Google's end, it certainly looks as if a lot more areas will be getting the streaming service eventually.
What does this mean for me?
If you live in a country where Stadia is available, all you need to do is sign-up for Stadia while in that country. Keep in mind, especially in Europe where people may travel between countries a lot, that Stadia's availability, game library, and even in-game content may change between regions. If you run into issues playing or purchasing games outside of your normal area, Stadia may not be available officially there yet, or there may be some content restrictions on which Stadia games and content can be offered.
The future for Stadia.
Stadia's support on Google's latest and greatest Chromecast is still a little rough. It requires a little bit more work for the user, but this is undoubtedly the way forward for Google Stadia and the most comprehensive Chromecast you can buy right now.
A good way to start.
You can play games on Stadia without any fees or hardware charges on your phone and PC right now, but grabbing the Stadia controller is your best option for couch gaming via Chromecast. With support for Android, iOS, web browsers, and of course Chromecast, the Stadia controller is a great option for enjoying all that Google's cloud-gaming service has to offer no matter which device you're on.
Jennifer Locke has been playing video games nearly her entire life. You can find her posting pictures of her dog and obsessing over PlayStation and Xbox, Star Wars, and other geeky things.