Today, there’s only one official way to play Google’s Stadia game streaming service on your 4K TV — the last-gen Chromecast Ultra, connected to the company’s proprietary Stadia Controller over Wi-Fi. That’s because Google hasn’t yet brought Stadia to the new-and-improved $50 Chromecast, and its predecessor didn’t support Bluetooth, meaning the only way to pair a controller was to loop through Google’s servers in the cloud.
But
Google now has a workaround, 9to5Google reports.
There’s a new “bridge mode” hidden in the latest version of the Stadia app on
Android that should let you send controller signals from your phone — letting
you play Stadia with your phone’s touchscreen, or even connect another gamepad
to your phone. You’ll be able to use your phone to change your TV’s volume,
too, according to text snippets buried in the APK.
The
original Stadia Controller has been something of a thorn in the company’s side
ever since Stadia launched on November 19th, 2019, so it wouldn’t be surprising
if Google decides to move on. It took many months for buyers to be able to use
Google’s wireless controller wirelessly with anything except the Chromecast Ultra — desktop web browsers and Android phones weren’t
supported at first, meaning you had to physically plug in a USB-C cable. USB-C audio took a
while too, and Bluetooth audio via the controller still has yet to
materialize.
Thankfully, third-party controller
support was quite robust on those other platforms, letting you
easily sync a PlayStation or Xbox gamepad to play, and it’s unlikely you’ll
even need this new Bridge Mode to play Stadia on the 2020 Chromecast whenever it
arrives; the new Chromecast does support
Bluetooth game controllers. Judging by a few Steam Link and GeForce Now
sessions with my 8BitDo gamepad, Bluetooth gamepad support may work just fine.
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