The team behind Google Stadia says that it has now distributed access codes for the service’s early adopters to every person that has ordered and paid for the platform’s Founder’s Edition, and will soon start to deliver codes to the next tier of paying customer.
Those access codes are separate from the physical Stadia Founder’s Edition kits themselves, and allow those that opted to get in on Stadia’s $130 ground floor the ability to actually use the cloud-based streaming service, or even reserve a username ahead of use.
According to The Verge, some new Stadia owners received their physical kits before receiving the emailed access codes that enable use, something Google later attributed to a timing hiccup with the waves codes and kits were sent out in.
As of the evening of November 21, days after Stadia's founder-exclusive November 19 launch, Google says all codes now should have reached early adopters as the kits themselves, as well as the Premiere Edition sets soon after, ship in waves based on the date each edition was preordered.
Here’s the latest update: If you ordered and paid for Founder’s Edition, you should now have your Stadia access code.
— Stadia (@GoogleStadia) November 22, 2019
Pre-orders and access codes for Premiere Edition will start shipping early next week. Thanks for sticking with us!
The whole ordeal is a symptom of Stadia’s somewhat turbulent launch. Google revealed shortly before launch, and long after pre-orders had been placed, that several advertised features would be hitting the service in weekly waves rather than right at launch. Gamasutra's own experience playing Stadia's datacenter-hosted games found it a functional but basic cloud gaming option, though that may not be enough to set it apart in an increasingly competitive space.
Currently, Stadia access is limited to Founder's Edition and, soon, Premiere Edition purchasers, with wider access to both its $9.99 monthly subscription tier and free version slated to roll out at some point in 2020.