Some Google Stadia Founder's Edition Pre-Orders Might Arrive Late

We imagine that, when pre-orders went live for the Google Stadia Founder's Edition, those who paid up front thought they'd be getting the package as soon as Stadia launched. According to Google, however, that may not be the case.

The folks at The Verge learned from Google itself that the Founder's Edition won't necessarily arrive for all pre-order customers on Nov. 19, the day that Google Stadia goes live. Instead, it appears only those who pre-ordered ahead of other customers will have the best chance at getting their package in time. Google alerted The Verge to some specific language in a recent blog post, which stated that the Stadia Founder's Edition would "start arriving" on Nov. 19. As you can see, there's just enough wiggle room there to let Google get away with shipping some Founder's Edition bundles a little bit late.

And how late might those bundles arrive, you ask? Up to two weeks after Google Stadia comes online. That means Stadia Founder's Edition customers may not get their goods until Dec. 3, which seems like an awfully long time to go without a product that was likely purchased with launch day play in mind. So if you're a Founder's Edition buyer and you purchased the package a few months after pre-orders went live, there's a good chance you will not be playing on Nov. 19. And if you've thinking about picking up the Founder's Edition ahead of Stadia's release, you might want to hold off.

We have to be honest: this news, combined with some other details we've been gathering about Stadia (the controller not being fully wireless at launch, for example) makes it appear as though Stadia isn't quite ready for prime time. We'll learn about how ready Stadia really is when it launches next month. But the Founder's Edition rollout is looking more and more like a beta program every day, and for those who paid $129 for early access to the service, that may not sit right.