Google has decided to give free access to Stadia Pro for two months. The freebie is rolling out now, but you might have to wait another day for it to reach your region. Fourteen countries are going to be gaining access to the two month free trial period (I've checked the Google Stadia homepage and the freebie is already live in the UK). If you are already a paying subscriber, Google will not charge you for the next two months.
At the time of writing Stadia Pro offers full free access to nine games, as follows; Destiny 2: The Collection, Grid, Gylt, Metro Exodus, Steamworld Dig 2, Steamworld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech, Thumper, the Serious Sam Collection, Spitlings, and Stacks on Stack (on Stacks). The Stadia landing page shows imagery from titles like Red Dead Redemption II and Borderlands 3 - which need to be purchased via the Stadia Store and added to your games list to become playable.
Google provides some background reasoning for making the free offer. In its blog post about Stadia Pro for free it says that it decided to provide the free trial in response to the Covid-19 crisis - and lockdowns - in many countries at this time. Discussing how relative isolation can be difficult for people - but an essential measure - Google reckons that "video games can be a valuable way to socialize with friends and family when you're stuck at home, so we're giving gamers in 14 countries free access to Stadia Pro for two months". Another response from Google to Covid-19 is a default bandwidth cut. The company is temporarily reducing games streaming resolution from 4K to 1080p.
You don't need any of Google's hardware bundles to get started with the Stadia Pro free trial. You simply need a USB-compatible controller or keyboard and mouse. Various platforms are supported including; laptop, desktop or Chrome OS tablet. On Apple iOS or Android mobile you can download the app. The list of supported Android phone is quite narrow though. Last but not least you can play Stadia on TVs with Google Chromecast Ultra dongles and a controller.
The full list of countries where the Google Stadia Pro free offer applies is; the USA, UK, Canada, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland.
If you take up the free offer you will be agreeing to recurring billing ($10pcm), so remember to cancel (if you feel like it) before the two months are over. You will be moved from the Pro to the Free tier if you choose to cancel.
