Choosing a gamertag can be a daunting process, especially if you really want something that resonates with your personality and that centers around stuff you might like, whether it’s gaming-related or not. If you change your gamertag as often as you change your socks, good news – Stadia users will be able to change their gamertags whenever they want.
This is according to a Stadia spokesperson who offered up the information at E3, but before users start jumping for joy it should be noted that there’s still no word on whether or not Google will follow the trend of charging players for this type of service.
Sony currently charges players for changes made to its PlayStation Network IDs, though the first time is free of charge and any future changes that will come with a cost will be half off for those that also have a subscription to PS Plus. Blizzard, too, charges for any changes made to a Battle Tag, which is Blizzard’s version of the gamer tag, and which costs $10 to change.
Microsoft also charges players to change their gamertag, so the trend with some of the biggest gaming companies is that changing these online gaming IDs is possible but it will cost money, which means there’s a chance Google could do the same thing.
If it did, would it offer the first one for free? Would it allow Stadia Pro members to purchase additional gamertag changes at a discount compared to Stadia Base users? There’s no way to know just yet but Google is likely to continue sharing new information about Stadia as the months go by, so expect some clarification on this as it gets closer to Stadia’s launch in November of this year.
One thing to keep in mind is that changing a gamertag won’t always be an option, at least not entirely. Just like with every other service that allows name changes for online personas Stadia will allow you to change your gamertag anytime you want but the name you want to change it to must be available and not already chosen by someone else, hence why Google was highlighting that Founder’s Edition Bundle buyers would get first crack at gamertags and promoting the first-come first-serve mentality of choosing your online name.
Whether Google decides to charge for the feature or not, it’s good for subscribers to have this option as tastes change over time and you may not always want to be known online by whatever possible silly names may be chosen in the beginning. It’s also not entirely clear if the name change is a feature that will be immediately available, though there doesn’t seem to be any reason why it shouldn’t be as Google hasn’t mentioned otherwise.
Since Stadia Base isn’t launching until sometime in 2020, for the time being changing a gamertag is something that only Stadia Pro subscribers will have access to. That membership will be $9.99 a month, unless you choose to opt into the additional subscription add-ons, like the publisher-specific subscriptions that will surely come with their own associated cost on top of the Pro membership.