The Elder Scrolls Online is finally available on Google’s streaming service Stadia. This is a reason for joy for our MeinMMO author Jürgen for several reasons. He can finally play ESO the way he always wanted.
What is Stadia? Stadia is a game streaming service offered by Google. Unlike a local installation, Stadia streams the game data directly over the internet to your computer, smart TV, or mobile device.
So you don’t need to install the game or endure the painfully long updates. If your internet connection (50K line works well) is strong enough, the game runs smoothly and quickly on old computers and smartphones.
ESO finally arrived on Stadia on June 16, 2020. It was announced as a lineup title over a year ago, but only released now, shortly after the launch of Greymoor, for Google’s streaming service. And it comes with cross-play and cross-progression to the PC version. For me, Jürgen Horn, MMORPG expert and ESO fan at MeinMMO, a small dream comes true.
Finally play ESO the way I always wanted
What has bothered me about ESO so far? I (and surely some of you) have been particularly bothered by the painfully long loading times in ESO. How often have I wanted to play an evening session, only to be greeted by a hefty update that took its sweet time and sluggishly shoveled data while my limited gaming time ticked away irretrievably. Especially as a young father, I currently have hardly any time to play, so every minute counts.
Then there was the fact that in ESO you have many routine tasks that you should definitely complete every day. These include going to the stable master for mount upgrades or the obligatory crafting dailies. For the latter, I have to log in to my crafting character every time, which also takes forever.
So Stadia solves all my problems with ESO: The annoyances mentioned above have stressed me since the launch in 2014, and I often consciously chose not to play a round of ESO because I simply had no desire to deal with all the delays. I preferred playing something that was immediately available and went quickly. But with Stadia, this is now simply over.
That’s why updates are now a thing of the past: Because updates are now a thing of the past. Forever! Because while the Stadia servers have their obligatory downtimes, they are simply fully patched afterward, and you don’t have to transfer the data to the clients. As soon as the server maintenance is over, I can log in immediately and start playing. Whenever I want.
I don’t have to start the game 2 hours beforehand for safety after a few weeks of ESO absence to have a ready client by quitting time. What a relief!
This is how smoothly the crafting jobs now run: Even cooler is that I can now finally efficiently complete the annoying but unfortunately so useful crafting dailies. I now simply complete these important “jobs” in the morning while on the toilet! Because I can seamlessly play Stadia on PC, smart TV, or my phone.
And thanks to the finally available virtual touch controller on mobile, I don’t even have to take the bulky Stadia controller with me to the toilet. That would have been even too silly for me.
The touch controls are certainly not suitable for battles and dungeons, but to navigate through the crafting region, pick up the daily jobs, and craft items, they are adequate. This way, the dailies are already done by morning, I lose no valuable gaming time, and I feel a little accomplishment in the morning because I’ve already “done something”.
ESO on Stadia? Works!
What is the performance like on Stadia? ESO had some issues with performance at the launch of Greymoor and was hardly playable for days. Even now, some players still complain about severe lag. However, I didn’t notice any of that during the launch of the Stadia version on June 16.
Stadia performed smoothly on both PC in the Chrome browser and on smartphone and tablet, and both fights and quests and exploration were manageable without stress. Curiously, it stuttered briefly while wandering in Knurr’Kha when I wanted to do crafting, probably because this region is always heavily frequented by crafters.
An important note for PC players: Contrary to contrary rumors, you do not need to buy ESO again if you have a Stadia Pro subscription and have already purchased ESO for PC/Mac. It is said that only the base game along with Morrowind is part of the Stadia Pro lineup, but anyone who has unlocked additional chapters and DLCs or maintains an ESO Plus subscription can use them on Stadia without additional costs if they link their accounts.
This also applies to Greymoor. So don’t buy the ridiculously overpriced Stadia version again if you already have the latest chapter of ESO on PC or Mac. You can simply use it after linking your accounts. And don’t worry, your PC/Mac version will not become invalid. You can also continue playing ESO with the regular client and pick up exactly where you left off on Stadia.
So much for the advantages of ESO on Stadia. Unfortunately, it still does not run (yet) in 4K on PC, and you cannot use mods here, as the game is not located on your computer. The coolest UI mods for PC and Mac can be found here in our extensive guide.
