Google Gives Stadia Controller Owners More Time to Setup Bluetooth Connectivity

While the unfortunate demise of Google Stadia was a major blow to users who invested a lot of time and money into the ill-fated cloud-based gaming platform, Google did somewhat make up for this by issuing users refunds on most purchases, even going so far as to enable players to use their Stadia controller as a standard Bluetooth gamepad.

With a method players were able to use their Stadia controller with other devices such as smartphones and computers, a feature which wasn't originally available as Stadia used a different kind of wireless connectivity method with the controllers. That being said, Google initially specified that owners only had until the end of 2023 to "convert" their controllers.

It looks like Google has extended this deadline, though - Twitter/X user Wario64 spotted a change on the official Stadia Controller webpage, which now states that this method will be accessible throughout 2024. It should also be noted that once this method is performed on a Stadia controller, it will forever continue to function as a "regular" Bluetooth gamepad.

In our experience, converting the Stadia controller over to a more standard Bluetooth connectivity mode works well with laptops and computers, although it does require a bit of time to setup. In any case, it's a nice way to repurpose otherwise obsolete hardware from a failed product.