As a holiday bonus, Stadia gave all of its founders a second buddy pass, which means that founders have a three month trial to give to one of their friends. The Stadia haters (you know who you are) mistook this gesture as a sign of desperation from the fledgling game service.
I thought about going toe-to-toe with the with everyone on the internet who wants to see this thing fail before it has a chance to succeed, but as I'm in a unique position with a platform, I'll use it to address everyone who is looking at this as some kind of scheme because they believe Stadia is already a failure: this isn't, it's not, and we just need to give it time.
"This Isn't A Gift, Stadia Is Just Desperate For Users"
Let's just recap where Stadia is at right now: Founder's edition released a month ago, and admittedly, it was a pretty rocky start. Shipments didn't come on time, and even when they did show up, the roll out for codes was so slow that people couldn't start playing even when they got their package. Once players started actually playing, they found that promises of 4k streaming weren't exactly on the level. Then, reports came out that Chromecasts were overheating and that one game in particular still had download UI despite that fact that Stadia can't possibly have downloads. All of this, as well as the underwhelming lineup of launch titles, made for a pretty sour first impression.
I invite you to keep a few factors in mind: the limited run Founder's Edition for Stadia is designed for and marketed to early adopters. New technology, especially something as ambitious as 4k game streaming, is bound to have some significant growing pains. The next big milestone for Stadia will be the free-to-use launch early next year. That's the real launch, what we are in now is more or less a beta period. You may think that I'm making excuses for a poor launch, but none of this is unexpected for Google nor should it be a surprise to early adopters. People who bought in now know they signed up for a work-in-progress, I'm patiently waiting for Stadia to find it's footing and happy to support it until it does, for a reasonable amount of time anyway.
Which brings me to the accusation at hand. Is Google giving away buddy passes because it's desperate for more players? Well, no. It's naive to think that four weeks after launch Google is "desperate" for anything. The masses will come when it opens the flood gates and makes Stadia free to use next year. To think Google is giving out Buddy Passes to encourage people to try Stadia is incredibly misguided. Though, I do believe the extra buddy pass is meant to address a problem.
Lack of Cross-Play Could Hold Stadia Back
No matter how beautifully and smoothly Destiny 2 might run on Stadia, it doesn't amount to much if my fireteam is still grinding crucible on PC. I've played Destiny 2 on Stadia, and matchmaking is real problem right now. With two buddy passes, I can now fill a three-man fire team and run nightfalls and grind glory in the crucible.
This would be a non-issue if cross-play existed, and the time when players demand cross-play is quickly approaching. In the meantime, giving an extra buddy pass to help Destiny players keep their fireteam together seems like a pretty good deal to me.
Stadia Might Fail, But You're Calling The Game In The First Quarter
Stadia may be ahead of its time by a few years, and it may get mismanaged into the ground, but it hasn't yet, so I don't see the point of dragging it every chance we get. It's easy to dunk on Stadia right now and anyone who does will undoubtedly get a mob of nostalgia-huffing small minds that can't stand change to back them up. The point is, game streaming is an eventuality and Stadia is the first ones through the door. Let's give it some time to see if it can pull it off.