The Google Stadia concept seems sound. Instead of spending several hundred (or thousand) dollars on a high-end PC, stream games to your budget machine—if you have fast enough internet, that is. Trials required a credit card, and then you had to remember to cancel. Now, Google will let you skip the payment info. But you only get a half-hour to play.
Usually, Google will let you try out Stadia Pro for a month. That’s more than enough time to try out the service, see what games are available, and decide whether the paid tier is worth your time. And it’s significantly more time than you need to answer the most critical question: can your internet keep up with Stadia?
But you had to fork over credit card details. Naturally, that leaves you open to the possibility of forgetting to cancel and paying for a service you don’t (or can’t use). Now, as spotted by 9to5Google, there’s a better option.
If all want to know is if your internet is up to speed (literally), you can now sign up for a trial account without handing over your financial details. Near the end of the trial signup, you’ll see an option to try out the service for 30 minutes.
That’s enough time to get into the service, claim a free game (Stadia Pro hands out free games every month) and get playing. If your internet can’t handle game streaming, you can let the trial expire with no love lost. If you decide you want to keep going, hand over your credit card details.
It may not seem like much, but in terms of answering the most crucial question, “can my internet do this?” removing extra barriers is a good thing. If you’ve been reluctant to give Stadia Pro a go, now you have nothing to lose.
via 9to5Google