Stadia Founders Still Don’t Have Launch Codes From Preorder

Google Stadia is experiencing a botched launch with many Founders still without launch codes.

As reported by The Verge, many Founders who had preordered Stadia still do not yet have their activation codes. These codes were promised to these preorder customers to, among other things, reserve their gamertag and was said to be offered once their Stadia was shipped.

This doesn’t seem to be the case with several Founders still lacking their code, while other folks who bought Stadia at a later date seemingly have their code already.

In fact, one user tweeted the following:

Hey @GoogleStadia When are the emails going out with the invite codes? The main reason to preorder (15 seconds after I could), was for me to be able to reserve my name.. So when do you actually hit the 'GO' button? I seem ppl getting their hardware even...

— filipcourtois ?? (@filipcourtois) November 19, 2019

With Stadia replying,

Hey Founder, thanks for your tweet. Founders whose orders were shipped on Nov 18 will begin receiving their access codes throughout the day on Nov 19 and 20 — sit tight!

— Stadia (@GoogleStadia) November 19, 2019

However, this was not what was originally pitched as evidenced by an AMA,

“BUT here's the good part. Stadia IS NOT A BOX! You don't need our hardware to start playing, remember? Right after we ship your order (but not earlier than 9AM PST 11/19), we'll send you an email with the invite code. You can use it immediately to create your account and reserve your Stadia name in the Stadia app on Android or iOS. Just for clarity: the first day is a little special, if we ship your order on 11/18, you’ll receive the code on 11/19.”

Our own review called Stadia unfinished, with Hardware Editor Chris Coke concluding,

“There’s a pearl of something excellent here. I love swapping screens. I love that I can play anywhere within seconds of logging into the website. If Google keeps developing it, Stadia could become the premiere game streaming service money can buy. It just needs more time in the oven to finish those missing features, build up the game library, and tighten up loose ends in the streaming experience.”