Google denies Stadia is overheating Chromecasts amid complaints

Google has denied claims that its Stadia game streaming platform is overheating Chromecast devices.

In a Reddit thread which includes a handful of complaints about Chromecasts overheating and turning off mid-game, a Google spokesperson claimed the company has “not seen thermal shutdown problems” during long Stadia tests.

“Thanks for bringing this to our attention,” Grace said. “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.”

The spokesperson further advised that users experiencing issues and seeking help contact Stadia’s online support team.

But users encountering problems remain sceptical. In response to the community manager’s post, one wrote: “Mine has not successfully run a game on the chromecast longer than 10 minutes before it shuts down from overheating!”

Another user said: “I want to point out that when it’s working, Stadia works wonderfully and I want it to succeed. That said, you can’t tell me that the problem doesn’t exist when I clearly experienced it and other users are stating this is a Chromecast Ultra issue that predates Stadia.”

Following a delay, Google said on Friday that all Stadia Founder’s Edition customers should have received invite codes to access the cloud gaming platform.

Customers who pre-ordered the Google Stadia Premiere Edition should begin receiving their orders and access codes this week.