Stadia players will now be able to manually change their usernames with some restrictions as the feature is rolling out today through tomorrow, September 1, Google announced in a post on the official Stadia subreddit.
According to the announcement, players will have the ability to change their Stadia name every 180 days since the last name change or account creation, depending on which is more recent. Users can change it by clicking on their profile icon in the top-right corner of the Stadia homepage, select Stadia Settings, then click on “Change your name” under the Stadia Name & avatar option.
The feature is only available on the web and the new Stadia name must fit Google’s guidelines of not using your real name, being between three and 15 characters long, using lowercase/uppercase letters and numbers zero to nine, and complying with the Stadia Code of Conduct.
Stadia Founders, who bought the Stadia Founder’s Edition at launch, have slightly different rules for changing their names. Founders were given unique names that did not require appended numbers in the username. For example, a Founder’s username could simply be John instead of John#1234 or John#980.
Founders can change their names manually through the above method if the new unique name is available, or contact support to “opt-in to an appended Stadia name.” Founders will be able to change their Stadia names back to an un-appended name after 180 days. Meanwhile, non-Founders cannot remove their appended numbers by changing their names.
The ability to change usernames is certainly welcome if you’re not happy with your initial name after two years since launch or if you want it to be the same as other platforms. Destiny 2, one of the best Stadia games on the streaming service, added cross-platform multiplayer last week, and this would make it easier on friends to find you with the same name if you moved to Stadia from another platform.
