Google has told Reddit users that Google Chromecast devices overheating while playing games on Stadia is categorically not an issue. Following reports of overheating devices on the Stadia subreddit, Google has responded that any heat emanating from the surface of the device is by design, and that “there is no thermal overheating issue” with its bundled streaming devices.
Reddit users have taken to the official Stadia subreddit to report dying/dead Chromecast Ultras following extended game sessions using the company’s recently launched Cloud service. One largely upvoted post simply titled “Chromecast Ultra Overheating” is filled with anecdotal reports from (unverifiable but seemingly legitimate) Stadia owners (via mspoweruser).
Users claim that devices lose connectivity or shutdown entirely following lengthy moderately lengthy gaming sessions – the original poster on Reddit claiming 3-3½ hours was enough. However, across various statements and within the thread on its official subreddit, Google has told users that overheating is not an issue within its Chromecast hardware – and little else in the way of explanation for concerned owners.
A Google community manager responded in the Stadia Reddit thread with the following.
“Thanks for bringing this to our attention. We know any sort of heat on a device can be worrisome, but we can confirm there is no thermal overheating issue with Chromecast Ultra. During normal usage (like watching cat videos on YouTube), the surface of the device may get warm to the touch, but this is working as designed.
“The team has done extensive testing on the hardware, services and games – this includes tests of long Stadia play and video sessions – and have not seen thermal shutdown problems.”
Theoretically, little should be different between video encoding from Stadia and any other video application.
Google has also received criticism from its community for failing to deliver 4K60 across all titles and using upscaling to make up for lost pixels. Google released a statement saying it leaves performance up to developers, and claims its hardware is always “outputting at 4K to 4K TVs with the appropriate internet connection” (via Eurogamer).
Google recommends users seek help from its official Stadia support channel if any issues – those it believes to be extant or otherwise – rear their head.
The overheating issue remains only anecdotal so far. But with Stadia set to ship to a greater number of users as the year progresses – and especially once Stadia goes free in 2020 – we’ll have a better idea of whether this is fitting of the usual Chromecast Ultra rate of failure or pertinent to Stadia itself. With any hardware there’s bound to be a few rotten eggs.
Google flat-out denies any thermal limitations with the Chromecast Ultra unit, however, much to the chagrin of some users online. It has not yet offered any specific reason for why the reported units are shutting down unexpectedly, but it would be a mighty embarrassing U-turn for the goliath if it were to confirm any issues following its initial statement – hence it must be confident that its equipment is up to scratch.