Google isn't waiting until E3 to reveal more Stadia details
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It's going to be a big week for gaming platform news: we have Microsoft's E3 conference this Sunday, for starters, but now we also have a Stadia announcement which Google's nudged in at the last minute. How cheeky.
On Thursday, Google is due to tackle some of the questions left over from Stadia's March announcement event - such as pricing, launch details and game announcements. The Nintendo Direct Stadia Connect livestream (the first of its kind) will air at 5pm BST, and can be watched via the YouTube link below.
What can we expect from the announcement? Up until now we've had no information on the game streaming service's business model, which some have speculated could either function as a subscription service (Spotify) or use a purchase model (iTunes). As Stadia is a cloud-based service and has no hardware, the only physical item that needs pricing is the optional Wi-Fi controller - unless Stadia has an upfront cost to access the service.
The other so-far unaddressed topic, game titles, is something that looks like it'll be touched on in the announcement. We know Doom Eternal and Assassin's Creed Odyssey will both be playable on Stadia - while over 100 studios have Stadia dev kits, and the platform has established its own studio to develop exclusive games. It's a fair bet we'll see some more big-name exclusives to help launch the new service and grab consumer attention.
On that note, the final topic of discussion is Stadia's launch plans, of which we only know it's due to launch in 2019 - first in the US, then Canada, the UK and "most of Europe". Maybe we'll finally see a specific date announced in this stream. If you want a detailed pre-brief so you're ready for the Stadia announcement, make sure to read Richard Leadbetter's hands-on analysis.