Latest Stadia update makes it possible for your friends to join your game, with a catch

One of the biggest features missing from Google Stadia ever since the game streaming service launched was the ability for your friends to just join a game that you’re playing. Until now, you would need to send your friends an invite, which may not exactly be feasible depending on what game it is, and whether you even know if they were online.

Thanks to 9to5Google, it seems as though this feature is now starting to roll out to Stadia users. However, you’ll first need to enable the feature in the privacy menu, and Stadia’s support page confirms that this will only work in “select games” for the time being.

Multiplayer games like Far Cry 6 let other players join your game directly from your profile without an invite from you. This feature, available only in select games, is off by default.

To enable it, go into your privacy settings under “Your activity”“Current game”turn on Join your current game. To change who can join games from your profile, choose All players or Friends. Only players in the group you select will be able to join your game.

This new feature is beginning to roll out now, coming courtesy of version 3.41 of the Stadia app, which is beginning to roll out on the Google Play Store now. So all you’ll need to do is download the latest version of Stadia from the Play Store, jump into your Settings menu, and change the privacy options.

• Download Google Stadia

Unfortunately, it appears as though this new feature is only available for Far Cry 6 at the moment. So we’ll have to wait and see what other games Google plans to add to the mix in the coming months.