Umm, so Google Stadia pre-orders don’t guarantee day one access

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When the Google Stadia Founder’s Edition was first announced, our own Joe Rice-Jones was quick to pre-order it. He snapped that ish up, but it turns out that his pre-order may not guarantee that he is playing on day one.

Set to launch on November 19, Google Stadia pre-orders will roll-out on a first-come, first-serve basis with the first batches scheduled to arrive on the launch date.

This means it is quite possible that you will not be playing on launch day, as only the early Founder’s Edition buyers will likely receive their Chromecast Ultras and special controllers on day one. The way it works is that Google will send you an email when it ships, then you’ll get a second email sometime after that with your unique activation code.

If you purchased one of the Premium Editions that replaced the sold-out Founder’s Edition, it’s very unlikely that you’ll get your order on November 19.

Honestly, this just doesn’t make sense. Stadia is a digital service. Users could receive their Chromecast Ultras and controllers right now and it wouldn’t mean they could start playing. It’s a digital service. Like, Google, just don’t flip the switch to ‘on’ until November 19, it’s that simple.

Hire me, I’ll get y’all straight.

What do you think? Surprised by the news regarding Google Stadia? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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Josiah Motley

Former KnowTechie editor.