One million people have tried Google Stadia, mobile app estimates suggest
For testing with a Pixel phone, Google sent us this custom-made Stadia controller grip that it's calling "the claw." It doesn't come in the pre-order package but will be sold on the GStore soon. [credit: Kyle Orland ]
With Google finally offering a totally free tier of Stadia game streaming earlier this month-including a free two-month trial of its expanded Stadia Pro subscription-now seems like a good time to check in on how many people are even interested in trying Google's new experiment in game distribution. Enter mobile analytics firm Sensor Tower, which is now estimating (via Reuters) that 1 million people have installed the Stadia app across iOS and Android.
Mobile app downloads aren't a perfect analogue for actual Stadia usage. People can download the free app on Android or iOS to browse Stadia's offerings without signing up for the service, for instance (and the iOS version doesn't even support direct game streaming currently). Some Stadia users might also ignore the mobile apps in favor of playing exclusively via browser or a Chromecast Ultra. And app downloads tell us nothing about how much time users are spending playing Stadia, or if they're sticking with the service after their initial download.
All that said, the app download numbers provide a good rough estimate for how many people have even tested Stadia's streaming offerings. Sensor Tower's new 1 million download estimate is up quite a bit from the 750,000 total Stadia app downloads the firm estimated earlier in April, just before the free tier rolled out.
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