Google confirms that it's going to roll out Bluetooth support for Stadia Controllers with Stadia's shutdown just days away. The announcement that Stadia would be shutting down came as a shock to early investors promised by Google that the cloud gaming service wouldn't be going anywhere. Google, at the very least, is delivering refunds for all Stadia purchases. It's also adding Bluetooth support to its controllers, enabling their use even after Stadia's end.The announcement that Google Stadia would be shutting down was made in September 2022. Google confirmed that servers for Google Stadia would remain online through January 18, 2023, after which games purchased for Google Stadia would no longer be available. Starting in November, Google began providing refunds for game and hardware purchases made through the Stadia Store. Hardware purchases wouldn't require users to return them.While Stadia would be shutting down, users would still be able to use their Stadia controllers at home. The only problem was that the Stadia controller only worked on PC via a wired connection. It does not currently support Bluetooth. There were reports that Google was evaluating the possibility of enabling Bluetooth for Stadia Controllers, but no promises were made at the time. That's now changed, as Google's surprised Stadia supporters with confirmation of Bluetooth support coming soon.
In a tweet shared Friday, the official Stadia account said that it will be releasing a tool next week that will enable Bluetooth for the Stadia Controller. Details regarding how to use the tool have yet to be shared and will only be made available once the tool is fully launched. Odds are, users will have to connect their controller to a PC via a wired connection for an update. Stadia users have hopefully kept their accessories.
Without this update, an unfortunate number of Stadia Controllers would likely have been thrown in the garbage. Wired PC controllers aren't necessarily rare, but Bluetooth makes them significantly more accessible. That's not to say there still won't be a lot of Stadia Controllers being thrown out. The number of Stadia fans out there that want to keep using the controller is likely small.
All things considered, this is still a good gesture on Google's part. With Stadia's shutdown in less than a week, Google could have closed the door on the entire thing and never thought about it again. Users can expect further information regarding Bluetooth support for Stadia Controllers next week, and they shouldn't forget to play their Google Stadia games one last time before servers shut down on January 18.