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During today’s official Stadia AMA on Reddit Google has explained some of the Assistant interaction with the platform.
While it can’t necessarily detail everything Assistant will be able to do, it has noted a few key features. According to Andrey Doronichev, some of those will be coming down the road.
Meanwhile, other features are going to be available at launch on day one. Which means they’ll be available next Tuesday on November 19.
Stadia will only have one Google Assistant feature on day one
When it comes to features, Stadia will eventually have many. Some of those will be Google Assistant-related. On the first day of launch though there will only be one single feature.
That will be the capability to launch games. To do so, players will simply ask Google Home or any Google Assistant-enabled device to play a specific game. It will turn on the TV and launch the game directly after.
The good news is that it shouldn’t be too long before more Google Assistant features pop up. Doronichev says that the Assistant button on the Stadia controller can be used to interact with Assistant while on the homescreen.
What’s more is that this will be what he thinks is a few days after launch. Doronichev also follows up by saying that he “has to double check” if that’s the case. The takeaway is that Google Assistant interaction via the controller is coming pretty soon.
However it will only be available while playing via the Chromecast Ultra for now. Doronichev doesn’t give a time frame, but it will eventually be rolling out to other devices like phones, PC and more.
Assistant interaction during gameplay comes later
For now, Google isn’t focusing on Assistant interaction during Stadia gameplay. It is working on it, but it’s putting efforts into launching the above-mentioned features first.
Doronichev says that the team wants to get the Assistant interaction during gameplay on Stadia right. To do this, they have to take their time and make sure what they add isn’t just a simple voice feature. But instead, truly useful interactions.
The short of it, is that if you were hoping to use Google Assistant in any way while you play games, you may be disappointed as you’ll have to wait. How long is unknown. But given Google’s aim to release features every week after the Stadia launch, it may not be too long.