A new version of Stadia for Android has just gone live on the Play Store.

Version number 2.29.322205683

The previous version of Stadia was released on July 24th 2020 and included many changes. Whilst we have yet to see many of the new features, it is clear that the engineers at Google are working hard to bring them.

I would like to thank @GemStadia for his assistance with this teardown.

Key Changes




Be Aware! The strings found in this teardown do not mean that a particular feature is coming. Developers may change or remove any of these in future updates.

Please note: These teardowns require us to look through over 150,000 lines of code. There is a chance that some of the topics mentioned have been discovered before. Direct comparisons between new and old files are not possible.

"Give your friends 2 free months of Stadia Pro!


Those of you who bought the Founder's Edition of Stadia were treated to two free Buddy Passes. Those passes allowed you to invite friends to three free months of Stadia Pro. Curiously, this line of code found within the APK is suggesting you will be able to invite friends to two months of Stadia Pro.
Considering you get one month of Pro for free when signing up for a new account, this could relate to possible refer-a-friend scheme. However, this is only speculation. This particular line of code was found amongst other social invitation strings.
Give your friends 2 free months of Stadia Pro!

New Accessibility Options


It appears Google wants to open up Stadia to those who are hard-of-sight by providing various new accessibility options, including a screen reader and text-to-speech facility.
These lines of code are found in various locations within the file.
Title for the text to speech switch
Notice informing the user that the current text-to-speech feature is limited in scope and will be expanded in the near future
Enhanced screen reader capability coming soon!
Hold down the menu button and options button to re-enable the screen reader

Live Streaming Online Status


With the recent live beta tests of Crowd Play, we can be fairly confident that YouTube streaming integration is coming too. Users who are streaming titles will have a "User is live streaming their gameplay footage." status.
This was found amongst various references to online status selectors.
User is live streaming their gameplay footage.

Steering Wheel Support


Currently, Google Stadia only supports HID-compliant gamepads or mouse and keyboard input. When reaching out to Stadia Support, they said "You can play Stadia with most HID-compliant controllers but some devices like steering wheels require an extra layer of compatibility which isnt supported.", though it seems that is set to change.
This line of code was discovered amongst references to gamepads and controller set up.
Peripheral controllers/gamepads such as a steering wheel can be used as input for this game.

Games with Native Touch Controls


It appears some games may soon come with native touch controls. Something like Football Manager 2020 would benefit from the ability to use the touch screen instead of steering the cursor with the Stadia controller. No doubt, this would need to be implemented by the developers.
This button text appears in an in-game notification, providing user the option to play the game via the game's natively supported touch input.

Region-specific Player Limits


When asked to check for information regarding rollouts in additional countries, the string below was found. It is quite likely that this isn't new, as we have never checked the foreign language strings before. However, it implies individual countries will have their own maximum capacities.
Vi har implementert en ",0,"regionsspesifikk grense",1," for hvor mange spillere Stadia-skyen har plass til. Dette er for sikre at spilleopplevelsen blir best mulig for alle. Sjekk innom igjen snart
Translation:
We have implemented a ", 0," region-specific limit ", 1," for how many players the Stadia cloud can accommodate. This is to ensure that the gaming experience is the best possible for everyone. Check back soon

Year-long Stadia Pro Trials


Currently, new users can sign up and receive 1 month of Stadia Pro as a free trial. However, within the code there is reference to multiple trial lengths, including 1 year.
Start your 1 day Stadia Pro trial
Start your 1 week Stadia Pro trial
Start your 1 year Stadia Pro trial

If we find any more information as we progress through this teardown, we will update the article.

What are you thoughts on our findings so far? Let us know in the comments