Google Offers Free Stadia Kits To YouTube Premium Subscribers As Cloud Gaming War Heats Up

Alphabet Inc GOOGL GOOG subsidiary Google is promoting its cloud-based game streaming service by giving away a Stadia Premiere Edition bundle valued at $100 for free to YouTube Premium subscribers, The Verge reported Tuesday.

What Happened: The offer is only available to existing subscribers of YouTube Premium, as of Nov. 6, according to Twitter user @RandomNoobYT, who provided a screenshot of the applicable terms and conditions.

The Stadia premium edition comes with a controller and an older version of Chromecast Ultra, as per The Verge.

Stadia is available in over a dozen countries including the United States, except Guam, Hawaii and the U.S. Virgin Islands, Canada, the United Kingdom and France.

Why It Matters: The game streaming space is getting increasingly crowded with Amazon.com, Inc AMZN launching a $5.99 per month subscription service called “Luna” in September.

Other players include Microsoft Corporation’s MSFT Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and Facebook Inc’s FB Gaming app.

Mirabaud Securities tech analyst Neil Campling said that this is just the start of the “Game Wars,” which — according to him — is the “the new mega-cap tech race,” the Financial Times reported.

Stadia was denied permission by Apple Inc AAPL to list on its App Store citing its policies centered on reviewing games individually. The Tim Cook-led iPhone maker has similarly denied entry to cloud gaming services of Facebook and Microsoft. 

The Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft criticized Apple, saying, it “stands alone as the only general purpose platform to deny consumers from cloud gaming and game subscription services” like its Xbox Game Pass.

Price Action: Alphabet Class A shares closed 1.35% lower at $1,737.72 on Tuesday and fell 0.2% in the after-hours session. On the same day, the company’s Class C shares closed nearly 1.3% lower at $1,740.39.

Photo courtesy of Google