Here's how you can turn your Stadia controller into a Bluetooth controller

Today, January 18, 2023, marks the day that Google officially kills off its Stadia cloud gaming service. In line with this development, many players have wondered what will happen to their controller once the service dies. Thankfully, Google has just released an update tool that enables players' controllers to use Bluetooth LE to connect to other devices.

The update process is a straightforward one:

Press and hold the Stadia button until the status light comes on.
Next, plug your Stadia controller into a computer using a USB cable.
Finally, go to stadia.google.com/controller and follow the on-screen instructions (you need to use Google Chrome or a Chromium-based browser for this, or else the page won't load).

Once the process is done, you can now link your controller with any Bluetooth-capable device, such as a smartphone or a laptop.

A word of caution, however: if you enable your Stadia controller's Bluetooth capability, you will no longer be able to leverage its Wi-Fi capabilities. Headphones plugged into the controller, as well as the Capture and Assistant buttons, will also not work anymore. Fortunately, the update will be available until December 31, 2023, so you have some time to decide if you want to pursue this process. If you don't want to enable Bluetooth on your Stadia controller, you can plug in your Stadia Controller with a USB cable on any device.

After the conversion, you can pair your Bluetooth-enabled Stadia controller with compatible devices by doing the following:

Press and hold the Stadia button until it turns off and press and hold the button again until the status light pulses orange. This will put the device in pairing mode.
Next, go to the device that you want to connect your controller, enable Bluetooth, and check for "Stadia" on the available devices.
If the two devices don't pair at this point, try approving the controller on your device's Bluetooth menu.

If you're a Stadia player, will you enable Bluetooth on your controller once Google discontinues the service? Let us know in the comments section below.