The change is rolling out now to the web version of the cloud gaming service
Stadia has really struggled to drum up a lot of excitement among gamers. While the service has fixed a lot of its early issues, Google’s seeming lack of commitment to the platform has definitely dampened the mood, and the service increasingly feels like something of an afterthought. Still, we’re absolutely jazzed to see improvements when we do get them, and right now we’re checking out some notable upgrades to the Stadia web experience.
As spotted by users on Twitter, the new Stadia store UI features a standout header graphic related to the game, similar to the look of Steam, which fades out as you scroll down to the actual listing. You also have handy buttons to fire up a game if it’s in your library, and if you don’t own it, you might get the option to play a limited trial or a demo depending on the game — as well as a button right below that if you want to buy it. The listing will also give you easy access to game bundles whenever those are available.
Not only is the new design more aesthetically pleasing, but it also looks like a better fit for handheld devices like the Steam Deck, which are likely to become perfect candidates for cloud gaming.
This isn’t the only Stadia tweak we’re getting; a less obvious one comes in the move from unreadable, jumbled-looking URLs to unique, easier-to-link ones. Instead of an messy string of inscrutable characters, each game is getting its own, simplified link ending with the game’s name. It’s not a huge change, but if you’re sending a friend a link to game you think they should check out, going with a more human-readable URL sounds like the sort of quality-of-life improvement we can appreciate.
These changes are rolling out now to the web version of Stadia. Other parts of the service’s UI remain mostly unchanged, but hopefully, we’ll continue to see efforts to improve the rest and drum up interest in the cloud gaming platform.
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