Is it possible for Google Stadia to download its games and play without an internet connection ?

With Google Stadia, the games are in the cloud (on remote servers), but is it possible to download the catalogue titles to play locally without the requirement of an internet connection ? After all, Google experts themselves recently said that you have to PAY the price of the game you want and have chosen a subscription package to take advantage of the services. Understand by this that it is not enough to pay the subscription to have access to a complete catalogue of games like a Netflix for example…. 

The software you BUY is stored on Google’s servers and you can play it at any time on your device (under chrome) while being connected to the Internet. Two subscription packages, one free, but restricted to display only 1080p and one for 10$ per month to enjoy a 4K HDR display at 60 FPS and 5.1 surround sound.

But then, where does the customer benefit from such a service? This is the question that many players have been asking themselves since the announcement of Google Stadia, and it seems that the information is not yet clear enough for some. This is why we are writing this article which will allow you to see more clearly the « cloud gaming » vision proposed by Google which will arrive until November 2019.

Google Stadia, can we download the purchased games ?

The answer is easy and comes directly from Google’s teams. No, with Stadia you will not have any possibility to download the games you have purchased to store them locally on your machines and thus play them without having to use an internet connection. This is streaming gaming, so you should always be online when you play a title from the Stadia catalogue and be under the Chrome browser, although support for other web browsers is also under consideration.

If the Google Stadia service is closed, how do I get the paid catalogue games back ?

It’s just not possible… the games in the Google Stadia catalogue don’t belong to you. You pay to access games stored on Google’s servers. You can play it on any device you own at home as long as you subscribe and have a decent internet connection. It’s like virtual location…. Or just as you pay for your Netflix subscription (except that there you pay for your games while on Netflix you have access to a whole catalogue). Moreover, if Google removes games from the catalogue, it will no longer be possible to play them (well, Google’s answers on this subject are too evasive)… Worse, if the services offered with Stadia were to close over time because there are not enough players, no recourse would be possible. 

If this happens, you will lose your access to the service and the game catalog without the possibility of downloading them locally to your machine and without the possibility of getting a refund for the money you have spent over the lifetime of the service. You pay for a service, but don’t forget that nothing in that service belongs to you. Well… It’s not totally true, your games saves apparently will be downloadable from Google’s servers, it’s more than nothing…