"Project Hailstorm" is an update, feature, or fix that has not yet been announced to Google Stadia. Perhaps. One day it just shows up in the Stadia APK file in the Google Play Store, and we don't know what it means or represents. But that doesn't stop the eager Stadia community from dreaming up what it could mean for the streaming platform.

At the very least, it's understandable: the convention of 'Project X' has been used several times in the past in regards to Google's streaming platform: Project Stream.

And the two references to Project Hailstorm are rather charming, as if someone wanted them to be found: the two references to Project Hailstorm that 9to5Google found in its APK update dive read:

'Exciting, no' There is no indication as to what it could mean for Stadia as we know it today, although it is suspected to represent a fairly major development to the service.

Users on the Stadia subreddit have been voting on dream scenarios for what it could mean. These include a new controller, Stadia VR, Android emulation, and expanded multiplayer support.

But by far the most voted for is a second-generation server blade to power the entire experience, ideally with ray tracing capabilities.

Currently, Google uses AMD Vega architecture GPUs in its servers, which are a couple of years old and do not offer ray tracing capabilities. However, this GPU has good computational power, and it will be some time before Google considers replacing it.

But this is a wish list of sorts.

Second to that is the introduction of a search bar feature, which is 100% possible, but it would be surprising to see it demand a big unveiling. That said, it is not yet certain whether we will see one of Project Hailstorm or something else, but it seems to me that this is no ordinary update.

Recently, Stadia confirmed that Stadia State Share will be coming to the platform along with Hitman 3. This is a pretty big update to the platform, allowing players to save their in-game game state and share it with friends in the same way. Mission locations, objectives, loadouts, difficulty levels, etc. can be shared through the platform.

There seems to be little connection between this announcement and the so-called "Project Hailstorm". The project is only mentioned in the application file and not publicly announced by Google, so it is possible that there is nothing to it.

But perhaps most likely it is related to Stadia's TV rollout later this year. In the past, Google Chromecast was required for streaming apps to work on TVs, but Stadia has partnered with LG and announced its intention to offer native functionality on its new TV models later this year. Also, as ChromeUnboxed points out, this is similar to Netflix's program of the same name, Hailstorm, which aims to reduce Netflix integration time for partners on Android TV and speed the rollout of compatible devices.

If you are already a Stadia fan, you are probably looking forward to Project Hailstorm in late 2021. And for the rest of us, Google may have a year-long plan on how to get you involved.