Google adds Free Weekends to Stadia starting with Borderlands 3

With GeForce NOW now working in Wine, there is little reason to use Stadia, except for maybe playing PUBG.

https://lutris.net/games/geforce-now/

I cannot ever see myself buying games off Stadia when those games cannot be installed and played locally. With Google's track record of killing off less successful products, your money spent on Stadia games is likely to be lost at some point. Subscribing and playing the free / included games is fine but again GFN has a much bigger selection of anti-cheat enabled titles, while everything else should be played in Proton / Wine.


Last edited by Xaero_Vincent on 7 August 2020 at 11:45 am UTC

With GeForce NOW now working in Wine, there is little reason to use Stadia, except for maybe playing PUBG.

https://lutris.net/games/geforce-now/

There's plenty of reasons. GeForce NOW in Wine can break at any time, and NVIDIA are under absolutely no obligation to get it working again. It's entirely down to the community. If I pay for something I want to put time into, I want to know I actually have something there that has my back. Stadia has that, GeForce NOW on Linux does not and last I tried with the Lutris script (when they announced it), the experience was terrible. Stadia remains great (technically speaking) and *can* help towards Linux ports as Ethan has shown (and others have too) just how close the Stadia builds are to normal Linux, whereas GeForce Now is just Windows in the cloud.

while everything else should be played in Proton / Wine

As always, different services for different people. Gaming does not need to be a one-size fits all thing. There is no "you should do it this way". I firmly disagree with that sort of thinking.


Last edited by Liam Dawe on 7 August 2020 at 12:00 pm UTC

Ultimately the gaming is not in your control, it's in Google's. If Google remove a game from Stadia or shut the service down, then your access to the game is gone. Also, it relies on specifically Chrome, rather than Chromium, as far as I'm aware. So I'm not liking that aspect too much either - it means Google control not only what you play, but ultimately on what client hardware you're allowed to play it.

Just as a quick correction (which is noted in the article) it works fine on Chromium, I don't use plain Chrome ever.

With GeForce NOW now working in Wine, there is little reason to use Stadia, except for maybe playing PUBG.

https://lutris.net/games/geforce-now/

I cannot ever see myself buying games off Stadia when those games cannot be installed and played locally. With Google's track record of killing off less successful products, your money spent on Stadia games is likely to be lost at some point. Subscribing and playing the free / included games is fine but again GFN has a much bigger selection of anti-cheat enabled titles, while everything else should be played in Proton / Wine.

There are some downsides to GFN compared to Stadia, at least at this moment and specifically through Wine.
One is that the color range is limited, as in no pure black&white (even on Windows) and as a result the colors are washed out. You can workaround it by adjusting the contrast, but that's just a compromise. That'll be OK for a TV, but not on a monitor.
The second one is increased latency when running through Wine, I get a round trip of 32ms on Windows and 48ms through Wine. On Stadia I get 30ms on both Windows or Linux (yep, the closest server is pretty far from me).
That being said, GFN is pretty much a WIP so things might change, although I don't know how the limited color range can be fixed.

Edit: Ah, I've meant to say GFN through Wine is WIP.


Last edited by dubigrasu on 7 August 2020 at 12:33 pm UTC

We gain a lot of Freedom with Stadia because of the titles we could not play otherwise, like Destiny 2. We also gain freedom from expensive hardware configurations. Is it worth the loss of Freedom of how we play these titles? Not saying it isn't, just a philosophical question. Maybe a rhetorical one, that does not even need to be answered.

You can have the same argument for the upcoming Microsoft xcloud and the rumored steam cloud gaming.
Im pretty sure we can expect something like this from steam judging by there steam link app, home streaming, and the way you can stream games from your pc to your phone from anywhere. If you look at where the market is going, its also heading to streaming games, I think this generation of consoles is the last one, the next will just be streaming.

If I should speculate, I dont think stadia is worth it, judging by googles other projects it can shutdown anytime,its expensiv and doesnt have meny titles. I would not move to stadia if it was cheaper, hade more titles. Im to invested in steam, I like what valve do with linux and gaming in general. Steam is far from perfect tho.
And what google does with your info is something Im not fund of. I do use google alot myself, and its very very hard to escape there influence on the web.


Last edited by Zelox on 7 August 2020 at 1:03 pm UTC

Talking about Stadia's Borderlands 3 though...this is the first time ever on Stadia when I notice stutter, and even some half-second freezes. I didn't played much, maybe 20 min, but in any case it did that few times.
Like I said, first time that I see this, usually is butter smooth.

From the linked Ethan Lee blog post:

Obviously I can't share any of its contents, but between the API itself and the dev environment it actually makes me really sad that Stadia is a streaming platform and not a local hardware platform, as I would much rather develop for Stadia than any console... it's a real shame that it's cloud-based, because it really is a technological feat in pretty much every other regard. I just really like having my hardware and software run locally a wee bit too much compared to the average person.

-- Ethan Lee

We gain a lot of Freedom with Stadia because of the titles we could not play otherwise, like Destiny 2. We also gain freedom from expensive hardware configurations. Is it worth the loss of Freedom of how we play these titles? Not saying it isn't, just a philosophical question. Maybe a rhetorical one, that does not even need to be answered.

No way in hell it is worth it. Not that it isn't worth it on an individual cost-benefit analysis (i.e., it is probably advantageous for many people to use it), because Google is pouring a lot of money into subsidizing it and creating those immediate advantages, but the net effect on society is negative (i.e., long term it screws up the market and the community and the industry).

We are talking about companies that really want to have always-online DRM and to track everything you do in your computer. We are talking about companies that gloat about how the threat model for their consoles includes "users install their own software on the device". We are talking about companies that remotely delete e-books from people's devices. Taking control away from the software we run is something big companies actively pursue, for explicitly malicious purposes, and is absolutely a big selling point of Stadia for publishers and for Google itself.

Google and its "partners" could pour a lot of money into cross-platform compatibility. Into either making hardware cheaper or making games lighter. But the profit isn't there; the profit lies in gaining control: so that they can force people to keep buying the same thing multiple times, so that they can jack up the prices and people can't rely on old copies, so that they can remove inconvenient competitors because they control the walled garden, even just so that they can really kill their old games to force people to buy the more expensive new ones.

when are they going to add some countries?
even nvidia now supports whole europoe

Is FREE2PLAY even on Steam for this weekend.

If you look at where the market is going

I see this kind of phrasing a lot, and I don't really like it. "The market" is not some magical independent entity which naturally moves in certain directions. A market is about people buying stuff and other people (maybe people with a lot of money and power) selling stuff. The sellers want to arrange the process in such a way that they can maximize profits. The buyers want the best stuff for the cheapest, with "best" having a lot of features that can include stuff like "openness" and "control over what you bought".

Software sellers are always trying to move to subscription models, because it will let them make more money more reliably. But "the market" isn't necessarily moving any particular direction. Occasionally moves to subscription models have succeeded, where they don't charge much and the convenience factor is strong. But more often consumers have deep-sixed them because people don't like monthly payments if they can avoid 'em, and quite a few like actually owning stuff they buy. So where "the market" is going is a contested thing. Very often when people say the market is going in X direction, they mean certain corporate suits have a vision that involves taking it there, and they assume that means that's what's going to happen. But it ain't necessarily so, and I think it's a bad idea to abstract away just whose interests are being served by these presumed market directions, so that what a few top dogs want becomes apparently just some kind of natural force.


Last edited by Purple Library Guy on 7 August 2020 at 10:03 pm UTC

OK, I tested the game with PROTON 5.0-9 next and the game works without cinematics, showing the hud on top in the intro video...


And then I tested it with Proton-5.11-GE-3-MF and ingame cinematics works and the HUD is not on top the intro video anymore, but the game crash very often.

Free weekend seems more appropriate for Stadia than local stores. Imagine installing a 30 GB game, waiting a while for install, only to remove it a day or two later.

We gain a lot of Freedom with Stadia because of the titles we could not play otherwise, like Destiny 2. We also gain freedom from expensive hardware configurations. Is it worth the loss of Freedom of how we play these titles? Not saying it isn't, just a philosophical question. Maybe a rhetorical one, that does not even need to be answered.

No, it's not worth the loss in my opinion. That's what some Stadia users simply can't get through their heads. They think everyone should be like them and play Stadia where as we all have our preference. Some prefer streaming, others local. It's so selfish and obnoxious to think that everyone should buy into Stadia simply because YOU love it.

The issue I have with Stadia is I don't trust it to turn out into a good thing in the long run. If it grow and becomes successful, will it become a great streaming service? I think so. I think that growth will likely affect availability of games being playable locally.


Last edited by Linuxwarper on 8 August 2020 at 8:49 am UTC

Free weekend seems more appropriate for Stadia than local stores. Imagine installing a 30 GB game, waiting a while for install, only to remove it a day or two later.

id say streaming is perfect for DEMOs in general
but also games like hitman2.... with the legacy pack it has around 110GB

when are they going to add some countries?
even nvidia now supports whole europoe

All suppositions from my part, but Google is extending its cloud regions to the central/east Europe, and is pretty close to open a data/compute/etc center in Warsaw, which is planned to be ready at the beginning of 2021.
So I suppose/hope this means new European countries added to the list and potential better latency. I'm currently using Stadia from a server (most likely) in Frankfurt, which is 1456 Km away from me, with a latency of 30ms. Warsaw is "only" 945 Km away, so, that'd be great.

when are they going to add some countries?
even nvidia now supports whole europoe

All suppositions from my part, but Google is extending its cloud regions to the central/east Europe, and is pretty close to open a data/compute/etc center in Warsaw, which is planned to be ready at the beginning of 2021.
So I suppose/hope this means new European countries added to the list and potential better latency. I'm currently using Stadia from a server (most likely) in Frankfurt, which is 1456 Km away from me, with a latency of 30ms. Warsaw is "only" 945 Km away, so, that'd be great.

GFN is also based in frankfurt (around 700km away from where i live), which works for me just fine, so i dont get it why i cant use stadia
their rigs are more or less in the same building, using the same internet connection, but i only allowed to use GFN

when are they going to add some countries?
even nvidia now supports whole europoe

All suppositions from my part, but Google is extending its cloud regions to the central/east Europe, and is pretty close to open a data/compute/etc center in Warsaw, which is planned to be ready at the beginning of 2021.
So I suppose/hope this means new European countries added to the list and potential better latency. I'm currently using Stadia from a server (most likely) in Frankfurt, which is 1456 Km away from me, with a latency of 30ms. Warsaw is "only" 945 Km away, so, that'd be great.

GFN is also based in frankfurt (around 700km away from where i live), which works for me just fine, so i dont get it why i cant use stadia
their rigs are more or less in the same building, using the same internet connection, but i only allowed to use GFN

What do you mean you can't use Stadia, can't make an account?

when are they going to add some countries?
even nvidia now supports whole europoe

All suppositions from my part, but Google is extending its cloud regions to the central/east Europe, and is pretty close to open a data/compute/etc center in Warsaw, which is planned to be ready at the beginning of 2021.
So I suppose/hope this means new European countries added to the list and potential better latency. I'm currently using Stadia from a server (most likely) in Frankfurt, which is 1456 Km away from me, with a latency of 30ms. Warsaw is "only" 945 Km away, so, that'd be great.

GFN is also based in frankfurt (around 700km away from where i live), which works for me just fine, so i dont get it why i cant use stadia
their rigs are more or less in the same building, using the same internet connection, but i only allowed to use GFN

What do you mean you can't use Stadia, can't make an account?

it is not available in my country and i dont get why cause gfn works just fine

when are they going to add some countries?
even nvidia now supports whole europoe

All suppositions from my part, but Google is extending its cloud regions to the central/east Europe, and is pretty close to open a data/compute/etc center in Warsaw, which is planned to be ready at the beginning of 2021.
So I suppose/hope this means new European countries added to the list and potential better latency. I'm currently using Stadia from a server (most likely) in Frankfurt, which is 1456 Km away from me, with a latency of 30ms. Warsaw is "only" 945 Km away, so, that'd be great.

GFN is also based in frankfurt (around 700km away from where i live), which works for me just fine, so i dont get it why i cant use stadia
their rigs are more or less in the same building, using the same internet connection, but i only allowed to use GFN

What do you mean you can't use Stadia, can't make an account?

it is not available in my country and i dont get why cause gfn works just fine

Is not available in my country either.
Try this (is the way I did it):

Add a free VPN extension to you Google Chrome. It doesn't matter which one, you will only needed it once, to access Stadia's registration page. Choose in the VPN settings whatever country that is supported by Stadia, reload Chrome and register on their page.
Once registered, discard the VPN (you don't need it anymore) and play normally. At 700 Km away from their server you should have an acceptable latency.
Again, don't try to play through a VPN, you don't need that.