Google Stadia Games Are Not Running At 4K, But Google Says That's On The Developers

Google Stadia is now in the hands of players, and some are reporting that it does not deliver on what was initially promised. The system, which launched with several features missing and which currently feels like a “costly curiosity,” has now been accused of not rendering games at the promised resolution. While Google has promised 4K resolution for all games, a report by Digital Foundry found that flagship launch title Red Dead Redemption 2 renders at 1080p or 1440p before being upscaled by the Chromecast Ultra. Destiny 2 also runs at 1080p, Eurogamer reports.

That same report from Eurogamer contains a statement from Google about what is happening here, and whether or not they feel that Stadia is achieving what the company promised it would. “Stadia streams at 4K and 60 FPS,” the statement reads. “That includes all aspects of our graphics pipeline from game to screen: GPU, encoder and Chromecast Ultra all outputting at 4K to 4K TVs, with the appropriate internet connection.”

“Developers making Stadia games work hard to deliver the best streaming experience for every game. Like you see on all platforms, this includes a variety of techniques to achieve the best overall quality. We give developers the freedom of how to achieve the best image quality and framerate on Stadia and we are impressed with what they have been able to achieve for day one.”

Google is essentially saying that it’s on developers if their game renders at a lower natural resolution. “We expect that many developers can, and in most cases will, continue to improve their games on Stadia,” the statement continues. “And because Stadia lives in our data centers, developers are able to innovate quickly while delivering even better experiences directly to you without the need for game patches or downloads.”

For now, it seems that the Stadia cannot match the performance offered by the PS4 Pro and the Xbox One X for every title currently available on the system. It was also promised that Stadia titles would deliever 60fps performance; according to users on Reddit, this has not been the case.

While several of the Stadia’s launch titles had their release dates pushed forward at the last minute, both Red Dead Redemption 2 and Destiny 2 were part of the originally announced launch line-up. The majority of Stadia games available now at ports (except for Gylt, the system’s one exclusive,) and they’re not cheap.