One thing that will help bolster adoption of cloud gaming is by making it as easy as possible to fire up a game. To that end, it is testing a way to start playing something with a single click from results, even if it’s not on the company’s own platform.
The test, which was by Bryant Chapel of The Nerf Report, not only enables folks to directly launch a game on Stadia, but it works with , and as well. If you’re enrolled in the test and search for a game on one of those platforms (such as or ), you may see a Play button in the information panel. Clicking that will either start up the game or take you to a landing page on the respective streaming platform.
and saw the feature in action too. The latter noted the search results can show if a game has a timed trial on Stadia or if it’s available for free or as part of a premium subscription.
It’s not incredibly surprising to see Google testing out such functionality. For several years, it has shown folks where they can. For instance, if you have a Netflix subscription and search for stranger things on Google, you’ll be able to start watching the show with a single click.
In hindsight, it’s a little odd that Google hasn’t offered this feature for Stadia from the jump in order to promote its cloud gaming service. On the other hand, Stadia’s store didn’t have a search function for a year and a half, which offered further evidence that the platform isn’t exactly one of Google’s highest priorities. However, Stadia is not shutting down and Google is slowly adding more features to it.