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Google has extended its deadline to let you adapt your Stadia controller to use with other systems.
At the beginning of the year, Google confirmed it would release a “self-serve” tool that would make its proprietary Stadia controller function wirelessly on other platforms via Bluetooth.
At the time, Google said the upgrade option would be available until the end of 2023, but now the end of the year is drawing near, Google is now giving Stadia owners an additional year to make the change.
This means you can switch to Bluetooth mode, check the controller mode, and check for Bluetooth updates until 31st December 2024 now, instead of 31st December 2023.
“Once you switch your controller to Bluetooth mode, you can’t change it back to use Wi-Fi on Stadia,” Google explains, as if anyone would worry about this given Stadia was shutdown almost a year ago now. “You can still play wired with USB in Bluetooth mode.”
If you’re one of the few people yet to convert your useless Stadia controller into something more useful, head on over to the Google website for full details on how to make the change. I did it at the start of the year and can confirm that it’s a very simple, very straightforward process.
“Just the lithium in an unused lithium-ion battery will be worth $11,000 in 2044,” joked one commenter on the Stadia subreddit.
“Stadia is not shutting down”, Google insisted when asked outright on Twitter if a closure was imminent back in June 2022. Just three months later, the beleaguered cloud gaming service announced it would close on 18th January 2023 – news even developers still hard at work on Google Stadia projects had not been expecting.
