Google Stadia Pro subscription will cost $9/month at launch

Google's Stadia Pro subscription will cost $9.99 per month at launch, with a $129 Founder's Edition to launch November in 14 countries around the world.

Details emerging from the Canadian website LaPresse ahead of today's announcement list a series of tiers of Stadia subscription, including a Pro subscription with older games available immediately and 4K/60fps streaming at launch, and free subscription to come later in 2020, which will only allow 1080p streaming and have no games bundled in. Games will be purchased and then become immediately playable without downloads.

The initial launch will cover Belgium, Finland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Ireland, the USA and Canada.

A "Founder's Edition" of Stadia will be available at $129, which includes a limited edition night blue gamepad, a 6cm-long Chromecast Ultra, Destiny 2 and three months of the Stadia Pro subscription for you and a friend, and you get to select your gamertag ahead of release.

At launch a Chromecast will be required for Stadia, though any Google device with Chrome installed will work later in 2020. The release line-up of titles will feature 31 games at launch, including Destiny 2 (which was confirmed to feature Cross Save capability ahead of an intended Steam launch yesterday), Assassin's Creed Odyssey, The Divison 2, DOOM, all three recent Tomb Raider games.

Recommended network specs for Google Stadia streaming are listed as 10mbps download and 1mbp upload as the minimal requirement, with 35mbps required for 4K resolution "optimal comfort". That will be a tall ask for some, though with Australia not included in the 14 initial launch countries perhaps they're still hedging their bets on streaming as the future.

© Ubisoft / Google

The Stadia stream also revealed that there will be a Stream Connect feature, so you can see what your friends are up to in the same game in real time. This was demonstrated in Ghost Recon Breakpoint, which will also be coming to the platform.