Stadia Store game listings just received a massive, long-overdue redesign on the web

As a surprise to pretty much everyone, Google just rolled out a complete redesign to the Stadia Store on the web! Instead of stacking most information on a game listing like the play button, screenshots, and the title’s description, these elements are not horizontally presented and feel much more like a store listing on a game console.

If you ask me, this was long overdue. Even before the search bar was added to Stadia, I’ve wanted its store to get redesigned to better present information to users, and now that’s happened practically overnight (the benefits of a Progressive Web App!) One major benefit of this is that if a game has a free demo or a timed gameplay trial, these buttons are now immediately visible upon visiting that specific listing, reducing the friction for players who just want to get in and play.

One thing I really love though is the prominent feature image at the top of every game’s page. Stadia is truly taking advantage of the space here in the same way that the new Google Play Store web-based redesign is. We first became aware of this redesign thanks to @scooterama on Twitter.

If you scroll down on any particular listing, you’ll see beautifully presented game bundles and add-ons, and the page background gradually changes from black or dark grey to the accent color that’s been assigned to that title. It’s a subtle, but a nice touch. Oh, and you’ll be able to toggle family sharing for a game with one click on the left just under the play button as seen below!

Again, these are all things that were present before, but they weren’t as obvious or as well presented, especially since most of the information was only visible after you scrolled past the large, obtrusive screenshots section that cluttered the top of the page. I’m not sure what prompted the company to make everything more horizontal, but I’m digging it, like, a lot.

Let me know in the comments if you’ve got the update (you ought to!) and what you think about it. I still kinda wish the home screen for Stadia where the latest game you’ve played and the library section received a new lick of paint, but as of right now, that’s not the case.