Google Stadia is testing use of game streaming service over 4G and 5G connections

Google has created a Stadia Experiment that allows users of the streaming service to play games over mobile connections. Until now, this was only possible with a WiFi connection.

Google says interested users can join the experiment by manually enabling it in the Stadia app on an Android smartphone. This can be done by clicking on the avatar and selecting the option of using mobile data in the Experiments section. Google does not state exactly how much data will be burned and, for example, what resolution users can expect.

Based on previous findings, the website 9to5Google writes that using 4g or 5g to play games through Stadia can yield 2.7GB of data usage per hour. That would be accompanied by a resolution of 360 or 480p; It is estimated that 720p would consume about 4.5GB per hour and 1080p would add up to 12.6GB. In order to limit the amount of data via 4G or 5G connections, Google could possibly also lower the frame rate in addition to a lower resolution.

Until now, it was only possible to play Stadia games via a WiFi connection, although in practice it was possible to work around this by creating a mobile hotspot and then connecting a phone or laptop. Playing over cellular connections means that the Stadia Controller cannot be used as it must use the same Wi-Fi network as a connected device. Incidentally, Microsoft’s Project xCloud game streaming service provided the option of using a mobile connection from the start.