Google is shutting down its cloud gaming service Stadia. The service will be live for players till January 18, 2023. Google will refund all Stadia hardware purchased through the Google Store, as well as all game and add-on content purchased from the Stadia Store. Google expects those refunds to be complete in mid-January.
“A few years ago, we also launched a consumer gaming service, Stadia,” said Stadia Vice President and GM Phil Harrison in a blog post. “And while Stadia’s approach to streaming games to consumers was built on a strong technology foundation, it hasn’t gained the traction with users we expected so we made the difficult decision to begin shutting down our Stadia streaming service.” have taken.” Stadia team employees will be distributed to other parts of the company.
From our early review at Stadia, 2019. Photo by Amelia Holovaty Crales/The Verge
Harrison says Google sees opportunities to apply Stadia’s technology to other parts of Google such as YouTube, Google Play and its AR efforts, and the company plans to “make it available to its industry partners, who will That aligns with where we see the future. Gaming is headed,” he wrote.
Google details some of the finer points of the shutdown in a FAQ. Refunds will be made automatically through the Google and Stadia stores, and you will not have to return any hardware. Stadia Pro subscriptions will be No Will be eligible for a refund, but you will not be charged during the shutdown period and you can access redeemed games as a Pro user until everything is finished. Google has closed the Stadia store, so you can’t buy games or in-game transactions.
Stadia has been facing rumors of its demise practically from the beginning
The writing has been on the wall for Stadia for a while, most recently when Logitech announced its new cloud gaming handhelds last week and Stadia was one of the few cloud gaming services that weren’t mentioned. But Stadia has been facing rumors of its demise from the beginning. Google has a habit of killing off projects only a few years after they launched, and Stadia, a cloud gaming service with few ties in the gaming industry, looked like a prime candidate for early death.
Last year, rumors grew that it would be shut down after the number of games released on the platform slowed and the company closed its in-house game development studio. When those rumors surfaced again this year, Google insisted that Stadia was not shutting down. Rest assured we are always working to bring more great games to the platform and Stadia Pro. The company said in a tweet, Which was true… till today.
Microsoft, which has also invested heavily in cloud gaming, declined to comment. Nvidia (which makes the GeForce Now cloud gaming service) and AT&T (which uses Stadia technology for some game trials) did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Update September 29th, 2:05PM ETMicrosoft declined to comment.
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