Even if it isn’t on the company’s own Stadia platform, Google is now developing a technique to start playing something with just a single click from search results. The test supports Xbox Cloud Gaming, NVIDIA GeForce Now, and Amazon Luna in addition to allowing users to start a game directly on Stadia. You might notice a Play button in the information panel if you’re registered for the test and search for a game on one of these platforms (like Destiny 2 or Halo Infinite). That will either launch the game or direct you to a landing page on the relevant streaming service when you click it. The search results can indicate if a game is accessible for free, as part of premium membership, or has a timed trial on Stadia.
The fact that Google is experimenting with this functionality is not particularly shocking. People have been provided locations where they can stream movies and TV shows in search results for several years. For instance, you may start watching Stranger Things with only one click if you have a Netflix subscription and search for it on Google.
In retrospect, it’s a little strange that Google didn’t provide this capability for Stadia right away to market its cloud gaming service. However, the lack of a search feature in Stadia’s shop for a year and a half provided additional proof that its service is not quite one of Google’s top priorities. Stadia is not, however, going away, and Google is gradually giving it more capabilities.
