Google Stadia’s Rocky Launch Leaves Fans Frustrated

Google Stadia faces an uphill battle in the court of public opinion. The new console has some great potential, but faces a number of hurdles, including the cost of high speed internet needed to properly stream games. While all game consoles launch with their share of hiccups, Google could really use strong word of mouth right off the bat. Unfortunately, early adopters of the system already have some major issues with Stadia, most notably the fact that they can’t actually use it.

In June, Google opened pre-orders for a Founder’s Edition of Stadia. According to Google, codes to access Stadia would be sent out in the order that they were received, and Founders would also have the ability to choose their platform name. More than 24 hours since the system launched, a number of consumers claim that they still don’t have access codes, and have taken to social media to make their displeasure known.

According to a tweet from the Stadia Twitter account, an internal issue resulted in “a small fraction” of Stadia access codes being issued out of order. Google claims that issue has now been resolved and codes are currently being issued in the correct order. It should be mentioned that Stadia’s tweet went out more than 17 hours before the tweets embedded above.

Stadia’s promise of a game console with just a controller and no physical console or games is certainly intriguing. Yesterday, the company released a quirky launch trailer for Stadia, demonstrating the promise of gaming untethered. With 22 strong games available at launch, the system has a lot of potential. Unfortunately, none of that matters if Google can’t get consumers to commit to the concept. With so many early adopters facing issues today, it will be interesting to see if more gamers will want to give Stadia a chance.

Did you pre-order Stadia? Did you receive your Stadia access code? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!