Google Stadia has a nasty overheating problem

News
By published

One step forward, two steps back

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Not only are critics piling up on Google Stadia following a botched launch, but now we are discovering that there are serious overheating issues on the Chromecast Ultra — one of the gaming service's main platforms.

The bad news comes after a piece of good news: Google Stadia founders are at last getting their access codes after two days. This is the official word from Google Stadia's Twitter account.

That’s one good step forward. However, Android Police’s Corbin Davenport reports that, while many users are praising how hot the service looks, others are complaining about how hot it makes their Chromecast Ultra. So two steps back.

Some users are claiming that, after playing for 20 minutes, they found the compact device “burning hot.” More importantly, other people are reporting full-on crashes.

There’s no known reason explaining why the Chromecast is overheating so much that it will shut off on itself. In theory, you are just streaming video to the device using a phone, tablet, or computer. There’s zero graphics processing inside the device with the exception of decoding compressed video — just like it does with Netflix or HBO or any other video service you'd use on it.

In any case, the overheating and sudden shutdowns sound like a big quality assurance oversight. This issue is especially concerning considering that Chromecast Ultra is one of the few platforms that currently supports Stadia in addition to web browsers and Pixel phones. Hopefully Google can iron out these issues before Stadia launches more widely in 2020.

TOPICS
Jesus Diaz
Jesus Diaz

Jesus Diaz founded the new Sploid for Gawker Media after seven years working at Gizmodo, where he helmed the lost-in-a-bar iPhone 4 story and wrote old angry man rants, among other things. He's a creative director, screenwriter, and producer at The Magic Sauce, and currently writes for Fast Company and Tom's Guide.