Chromecast Update - Stadia Store Feature On The Way?

I believe I have found a new feature on the Chromecast Ultra Stadia app.

It’s totally possible that this feature has been around for a while and I merely haven’t noticed or come across it until now. However, after some Google searching, I was unable to find any other articles or information on this feature. Therefore, whether this is a brand new feature or not, this article serves to document this feature and to discuss some of the very exciting implications that could arise from it.

Stadia Features

Google has clearly been spending a decent amount of time and resources on expanding Stadia’s feature set. It’s nice to see that (over 2 years down the line) the Stadia mobile app now has the ability to search the store using a new search bar – a complimentary addition to the search bar you can use to browse your catalogue of owned games. Although this still requires you enable it via the “experiments” section of the app.

But the new search bar is not what this article is about.

This article is about the addition of a Chromecast feature.

So, c’mon, what is this feature then??

Chromecast Payment Feature

For a long time now, Stadians have been crying out for the ability to browse the store and buy games via the Chromecast Stadia app.

Although a fully fledged store is, sadly, not what I am talking about, this could very well be the start of Google implementing the tools and functions required to put a working store together on Chromecast.

So yesterday I was loading up ‘ARK: Survival Evolved’ and spotted the “Genesis Season Pass Available Now!” notice block in the top left of the screen.

Wanting to see a little more information, namely the price, I selected the ad and pressed A on my Stadia Controller.

To my surprise this popped up!
(Please forgive the camera shot. The screenshot feature would not capture everything on the screen)

“Wow,” I thought to myself, “this is exciting!” – I’d never seen this screen before, a screen giving me the ability to pay for game content on the Chromecast!

I quickly exited the game and thought I’d try another title – Doom Eternal.

I loaded up Doom Eternal, selected the Ancient Gods: Part 2 DLC, which I don’t currently own, expecting to see the standard popup that I’d always seen before that gave a little information about the DLC and told me to go to the Stadia store to buy it.

But instead, I saw this

Awesome!

I wonder how many other games have this ability?

Why Is This So Exciting?

The addition of a Chromecast payment feature is exciting for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, it means that Google are still actively developing the Chromecast app. We very rarely see/hear of updates to the Chromecast Stadia app and it’s nice to see new features being rolled out.

Secondly, if this is possible on the Chromecast, then an entire store should be possible too.

Hopefully, a fully-fledged Google Stadia Game Store isn’t too far away.

And Finally...

I have only tried this one a small handful of games, with mixed results.

It would be great if you could post your experiences with the Stadia Chromecast Payment Feature. Does this feature work for you? Have you seen it in other games? How long ago did you see this feature? And what would you like to see Google achieve by adapting/extending this feature?

Here is my Chromecast Ultra firmware number: