Google Stadia will soon be installed on Chromebooks by default

Kyle Bradshaw | Sep 9 2020 - 9:09 am PT

When you first set up your Chromebook, you’ll have a sizable suite of apps installed by default. Soon, Google Stadia will be one of the apps installed by default on Chromebooks.

One of the many cool things about Stadia, Google’s game streaming service which is swiftly approaching its first anniversary, is that it allows you to play AAA quality games on even the most affordable of Chromebooks. In fact, if you’ve purchased a Chromebook recently, you may even qualify for a code for three months of Stadia Pro.

To that end, it would make a great deal of sense for Stadia to be one of the many web and Android apps installed on Chromebooks by default. According to a new Chromium code change, that’s exactly what is about to happen.

In the code, we see that the Stadia web app — not the Android app, which does not work well on Chrome OS — will be pre-installed on Chromebooks in the near future. By default, Stadia will appear on the first page of Chrome OS’s app drawer, next to Google Duo.

Of course, if your Chromebook is already set up, this particular change won’t affect you until you need to powerwash. And as always, if you don’t want to have this Stadia shortcut on your Chromebook, you can always uninstall it.

As for when Stadia will start to appear on Chromebooks by default, considering the code change is still under review, we likely won’t see this begin until Chrome OS 87 at the earliest.