Stadia Boss Phil Harrison quietly left Google after game service's closure

Phil Harrison, the vice president of Google and former head of Stadia, confirmed he left the company. According to a report, two employees familiar with the matter said Harrison quietly left the company around the time it shut down the short-lived game streaming service. His LinkedIn profile states he ended his time with the company this month.

Harrison is a veteran in the gaming industry. He worked at Sony for over a decade and three years at Microsoft before joining Google in 2018. Unfortunately, Stadia struggled to attract gamers, which resulted in its shutdown this January.

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Google has unlocked the Stadia controller's Bluetooth

Source: Google

With Stadia shutting down today, Google has released the online tool it promised could enable Bluetooth support on the Stadia controller. This lets you use the gamepad for your PC, iOS, or Android devices, saving the accessory from being a glorified paperweight. You can visit this page to unlock Bluetooth. The process is simple and easy to follow. You will need to connect your controller to your computer using a USB-C cable and ensure it's charged to at least 10 percent. 

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Google Stadia team releases test game before the shutdown

Source: Google

Aside from bringing Bluetooth support to the Stadia Controller, the Google Stadia team decided to release one last game before the January 18 shutdown. The company is releasing the Worm Game, which it used to test the service before it launched publicly in November 2019.

“Worm Game is a humble title we used to test many of Stadia’s features, starting well before our 2019 public launch, right through 2022,” says Google in its listing for the newly published title. “It won’t win Game of the Year, but the Stadia team spent a LOT of time playing it, and we thought we’d share it with you. Thanks for playing, and for everything.”

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The Google Stadia Controller to get Bluetooth support

Source: Google

As Google Stadia winds down, the team behind the game-streaming service promises to enable Bluetooth on the Stadia controllers. This would allow owners of the peripheral to use it even as the service shuts down on January 18 at 11:59 PM PT (or 2:59 AM ET on January 19). According to a Google Stadia community manager, they will share details next week on how to enable the feature. 

When the Stadia Controller launched, the device was built to access Stadia services directly and had its Bluetooth chip disabled. Fans have looked for workarounds on what it can do with the controller, but thankfully the Google Stadia team is offering an official way to prevent the controller from turning into e-waste preemptively.

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