OnePlus is giving away ₹9,000 worth Google Stadia bundle for free – but it’s not available in India

• OnePlus is currently running a limited-period offer for its customers in select countries, giving them Google Stadia console and Chromecast for free.
• The offer is applicable on recent OnePlus smartphones, including the OnePlus Nord, OnePlus 8T, OnePlus 8 Pro, OnePlus 9 and the OnePlus 9 Pro.
• However, the free Stadia bundle is not available in India. Find out why.

India is the biggest market for OnePlus. Although the company has usually been aggressive in pricing its smartphones in India, this time around it has given India a miss for the Stadia Premiere Edition offer.

OnePlus is currently offering its customers in three European countries – UK, France and Germany – a free Stadia Premiere Edition bundle. This bundle includes the Stadia Premiere Edition controller and Chromecast Ultra. Buyers can avail this offer on OnePlus Nord, OnePlus 8T, OnePlus 8 Pro, OnePlus 9 and the OnePlus 9 Pro.

Usually, the Stadia Controller and Chromecast Ultra together cost £89.99 (approx. ₹9,250). However, you will still have to subscribe for the Stadia gaming service – so the deal makes sense only if you actually use Stadia or want to use it.

Despite India being the biggest market for OnePlus, its customers in India cannot avail of this offer. Here’s why:

Stadia is currently not available in India – both in terms of hardware as well as software. Even if you want to pay for it and access the service, you will have to use a virtual private network (VPN).

However, using a VPN to access and play games on Stadia may degrade your experience as there could be an increase in latency, resulting in a laggy experience.

What exactly is Google Stadia?

Google Stadia is a cloud-based gaming platform – it allows you to simply login to your Google account and play games in your browser.

Think of Stadia as the Netflix for gaming. The service has some titles like Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Doom Eternal, Rage 2, Red Dead Redemption 2, and the much-hyped Cyberpunk 2077.

At the end of the day, the OnePlus x Google Stadia bundle not being available in India is because of Google, and not OnePlus. As it is, Google Stadia is available only in the US, UK, Canada, and select European countries.

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