Google delivers Stadia servers to AT&T without proprietary branding

Google appears to be supplying servers of the Stadia game service to AT&T behind the scenes. Customers of the American provider can play Batman: Arkham Knight for free this way. The name ‘Stadia’, on the other hand, is not linked to the promotion.

AT&T customers in the United States can play Batman: Arkham Knight for free under the name ‘beta streaming’ after entering their phone number and zip code. 9to5Google initially noted that the service requires a connection through Google Chrome or another Chromium-based browser. Once connected, it turns out that users connect directly to Google servers and that the code refers to “cloudcast,” a term commonly used in Stadia code. The user interface according to the medium is also almost identical to that of Google Stadia.

It’s not clear yet if Google wants to do the back-end delivery for third-party streaming services on a larger scale. For now, only Batman: Arkham Knight has been made available this way, although the game in question is not available through Google Stadia itself.

The provision of the service in question may have something to do with the closing of Google’s own Stadia game studios. At the beginning of this year, Google decided to stop developing its own games for Stadia. Then the company pledged, “Our goal remains to create the best possible platform for gamers and technology for our partners.” It is not clear whether this statement refers to any rental of Stadia servers and technologies to third parties.

Google released game streaming service Stadia at the end of 2019. There are currently two plans available; the free variant allows users to game in a maximum 1080p resolution. With the Pro membership, users can play in 4K resolution and get free games every month. In any case, users must purchase games through Stadia before they are playable through the streaming service.