Google Stadia shipments may not arrive on launch day, even for Founder's Edition pre-orders

Whether you pre-ordered the Founder's Edition or the Premiere Edition, you won't necessarily get your Google Stadia on launch day. Google told The Verge that buyers may not get to play the Stadia by the 9am PT / 12pm ET / 5pm BST launch time on November 19, as Founder's Edition kits are being shipped out according to when they were pre-ordered, and the Premiere Editions won't have even begun shipping out come launch day.

The $130 / £119 Founder's Editions were billed as the only way to get first dibs on Google Stadia, and include an exclusive 'Night Blue' controller, Chromecast Ultra, and three months access to Stadia Pro plus one to give a friend. According to Google, these kits will "start arriving" on November 19, and the lucky people who will be able to play Stadia as soon as the launch clock strikes the golden hour will likely be "one of the first gamers who pre-ordered." 

Google also announced today on Twitter that the Founder's Edition had completely sold out, and that it would be replaced by the Premiere Edition. The Premiere Edition will include a white Stadia controller, Chromecast Ultra, three free months of Stadia Pro, and Destiny 2: The Collection. While this may sound like a fair replacement, as we mentioned earlier, The Verge reports that "the new Premiere Edition apparently won't have shipped" by the November 19 release date.

Google expects to have shipped out both Editions within the first two weeks of launch, but in this case, the early bird gets the worm, as the first to pre-order will be the first to play.

The road to launch has been less than stellar. We recently reported that the Google Stadia controller will be less wireless than we thought, at least at launch.