Wondering about your Stadia buddy pass and when it will show up in your email inbox?
Wonder no longer, as it’s now been confirmed to show up “about two weeks” after your Stadia bundle arrives.
This and many other questions have been asked and answered over at the official Stadia subreddit. During the company’s second official AMA, Stadia’s Beri Lee touches on the subject.
Stadia buddy pass codes are for founders only
As a reminder, the buddy pass only comes with the Founders Edition bundles. This means anyone who purchased the Premier Bundle will not get one.
And if you want to play with friends, they’ll need their own Premier or Founders bundle.
Another thing to consider is that while Founders will all eventually get one, some will arrive later than others. Lee notes that passes will come about two weeks after the bundles arrive.
This leaves room for plenty of variance. Since Google also stated bundles will arrive in the order that they were purchased. For anyone who bought Founders bundle towards the end of their availability, bundles will probably arrive at least a week or more after launch.
Google could still be very quick with the shipments. However, if it does take a bit longer to get the newest purchases shipped, passes will no doubt take longer to get to those individuals.
The two-week wait is probably out of fairness
It doesn’t take that long to send out an email with a code. That being said, a two-week wait for the arrival of the buddy pass codes is probably out of fairness.
More specifically fairness to the Founders. Remember, Google stated that bundles would ship out in the order they were purchased. Which means some people will not get their bundles on November 19 or even a day or two after.
The last thing Google probably wants is people who purchased the bundles to have to wait while buddy pass recipients are enjoying the service.
Google doesn’t exactly mention any of this in the AMA. But, it seems like a very logical reason for pushing out the dates of when to send out those codes. Yes, it means that some people will have to wait to play friends or family.
But in total fairness to everyone who bought the bundle, this seems like the right approach. Stadia is set to launch officially on November 19. It will come with 12 available games on day one, with more launching in the weeks following.
Some of the day one titles include Destiny 2, Red Dead Redemption 2, Samurai Showdown and more.