Google is shutting down Stadia, its shadow gaming service.
The service will remain live for players until January 18th, 2023.
Google will be refunding all Stadia hardware picked up through the Google Store as well as all the games and add- on content picked up from the Stadia store. Google expects those refunds will be completed in mid-January.
“ A several generations ago, we also launched a consumer gaming service, Stadia, ” Stadia vice chairperson and GM Phil Harrison said in a blog post. “ And while Stadia’s approach to streaming games for consumers was erected on a strong technology foundation, it has n’t gained the traction with druggies that we anticipated so we ’ve made the delicate decision to begin winding down our Stadia streaming service.
” workers on the Stadia team will be distributed to other zone of the company.
Harrison says Google sees chances to apply Stadia’s technology to other parts of Google, like YouTube, Google Play, and its AR whiles, and the company also plans to “ make it available to our industry spouses, which aligns with where we see the future of gaming headed, ” he wrote.
Google detailed some of the finer points of the close in an FAQ. Refunds will automatically be made through the Google and Stadia stores, and you wo n’t have to return any hardware. Stadia Pro subscriptions won’t be eligible for a refund, but you won’t be charged during the close period and can access games you might have redeemed as a Pro user until everything is wound down. Google has closed the Stadia store, so you ca n’t buy games or in- game sales.
Stadia has been facing rumors of its demise nearly from the beginnings.
The report has been on the wall for Stadia for a while now, most newly when Logitech released its new cloud gaming handheld last week and Stadia was one of the several cloud gaming services not mentioned. But Stadia has been facing rumors of its Denise almost from the beginnings. Google has a habit of killing programs only a several years after they launch, and Stadia, a cloud gaming service from a company with many ties in the gaming industry, looked like a supreme applicant for an early demise.
This year, rumors crawled it would shut down after the number of games released to the platform slowed and the company shuttered its in- house game development workshops. When those rumors popped up again this year, Google claimed that Stadia wasn’t shutting down. “ Rest assured we ’re always working bringing additional great games to the platform and Stadia Pro, ” the company said in a tweet. Which was true. until recently.
