Stadia finally allows players to join friends’ games without an invite

The feature was quietly added to the profile’s privacy settings.

What you need to know

• Google Stadia players can now join friends’ multiplayer games without first needing an invite.
• The new option can be found in the privacy settings and was enabled by default, despite Google saying otherwise.
• The feature is currently available in select games like Far Cry 6.

Google Stadia finally allows players to join friends’ multiplayer games without requiring an invite, two years since the streaming gaming platform launched.

The basic feature can be found in the Stadia user’s privacy settings under Your activity, then Current game, and as Join your current game. The option is turned off by default, according to the official support page, but was already enabled for my Stadia account and confirmed to 9to5Google and The Verge.

Stadia users can change whether just friends, friends and their friends, or all players can join their game without needing an invite. It can also be set to private without turning off the option completely.

Google said that the join feature is only available in “select games,” with Far Cry 6 only mentioned so far, though we will see if it comes to some of the best Stadia games released this year. The feature is also available in the Android mobile app and the web version on iOS devices.

The company has been slowly adding features over the last few months that are seemingly overdue since the platform launched almost two years ago, such as free game trials and an Explore Feed to easily share and view game screenshots and clips. Meanwhile, Google is lending out its Stadia tech to other companies to host streaming games that cannot be played through the Stadia service itself.

Play and Watch with Google TV Package

$100 at Google

Play and Watch with Google TV Package is the latest bundle that contains the Chromecast with Google TV and a Stadia controller to easily get into playing Stadia games on the television.