Chromecast with Google TV won't have official Stadia support until next year

During their annual hardware event, Google announced several new products, including Pixel phones and a new Nest device. Google also announced the Chromecast with Google TV, the latest addition to the Chromecast family. This device adds software to the Chromecast, letting users browse thousands of apps. However, in an odd twist of irony, the new Chromecast with Google TV won’t have official support for Google Stadia, the company’s video game streaming service, at launch.

This news comes out of an interview NBC conducted with Director of Product Management Gerardo Capiel. In speaking with NBC, Capiel said that the company plans to add official support for Stadia to the new Chromecast with Google TV within “the first half of next year.” The Chromecast with Google TV was announced on September 30 during Google’s annual hardware event.

Google shipping a new streaming device without direct support for their recently released video game streaming platform is certainly a head scratcher. Stadia has struggled to garner a large user base, and having the service at launch surely would have been a needed boost. On top of that the new Chromecast having robust game streaming functionality would have been a strong leg up on competitors Amazon and Roku.

Though there is currently no official support for Stadia on the new Chromecast, The Verge reports that they were able to get the program running via sideloading, further begging the question as to why there wasn’t official integration put in at launch.

The Chromecast with Google TV touts 4K video support, as well as HDR and Dolby Atmos sound. The Google hardware event was home to other announcements as well, such as the new Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a 5G cell phones.