Back in July, the Stadia team announced that users could try out an experimental feature in beta which would allow them to play games over 4G and 5G data connections on the go. Now, that feature has exited beta and is now widely available through a server side update to the app, according to Reddit user SDavies1991!
If you navigate to your profile photo on the top right of the app and then down to the performance section, you should now see a ‘Mobile data’ category with a toggle to turn it on. Your resolution will be capped at 720p, taking up 2.7GB per hour. While some may be frustrated by this ‘limitation’, please keep in mind that 720p on a smaller screen is super crisp. As screens become larger and there are less pixels per square inch, resolution becomes a problem. It’s also nice to see that 2.7GB per hour is not even close to the 20GB per hour for 4K game streaming while at home. It’s a nice trade off and I think this will do a lot for the future adoption of game streaming, assuming data providers make changes to their restrictions.
If you choose to use this new mobile data feature, just know that most phone service providers impose a data cap, unlike several internet service providers. Once enabled, your ‘Play’ button for a game will periodically show a cell tower icon instead to remind you that you’re not connected to a WiFi network. This will surely save everyone’s wallet!
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