It would be safe to say that Google Stadia, which is a fairly new gaming streaming service, couldn’t gain as much popularity as the likes of Xbox Cloud Gaming. This had erupted a few rumors that Google will end up shutting the service down and this has now become true, as per a recent announcement.
Google Stadia’s Life Is Coming to an End!
Google Stadia’s Vice President, Phil Harrison has announced that Stadia will cease to exist in January 2023 and users will have until January 18 to use the service. It will also provide refunds for the Stadia hardware (Stadia Controller, Founders Edition, Premiere Edition, and Play and Watch with Google TV packages) bought via the Google Store.
Plus, game and add-on content purchased via the Stadia Store will also be refunded. The whole process is expected to be completed by mid-January. However, Stadia Pro subscriptions and purchases made via third-party sellers won’t be eligible for a refund.
This doesn’t come as a surprise as Stadia wasn’t really the go-to game streaming service for gamers. And this was acknowledged by Google. In an announcement post, Harrison, states, “And while Stadia’s approach to streaming games for consumers was built on a strong technology foundation, it hasn’t gained the traction with users that we expected so we’ve made the difficult decision to begin winding down our Stadia streaming service.“
Although, it was just recently when Google shunned rumors regarding it killing Stadia and now three months later, the course has changed! Last year, the tech giant shut down its Stadia Game Development Studio.
Google has also closed the Stadia Store and won’t allow people to buy new games. Future pre-orders will also be canceled. While Stadia users will have a few months to still play the games, Google expects gameplay issues for some titles. Shifting the game progress to another platform is also possible for most games.
However, this doesn’t mean that Google will move away from gaming. It will continue to use Stadia’s technology for YouTube, Google Play Store, and even its AR venture. Plus, will still provide the same to third parties like AT&T via the Immersive Stream for Games announced recently.
We look forward to seeing what Google plans to do in the gaming sector next. We will keep you posted on the updates. Until then, do let us know how you feel about Google Stadia shutting down in the comments below.
