Google has officially announced that its cloud streaming platform, Google Stadia, will be discontinued effective January 18, 2023, and all purchases made by players before this date will be refunded.
Write to the official Google BlogStadia Vice President and General Manager Phil Harrison explained that while the service was technically successful, the platform did not gain traction with consumers in the way the company expected, and as a result, Google decided to call time on the streaming platform.
“A few years ago, we also launched a consumer gaming service, Stadia,” Harrison said. “While Stadia’s approach to consumer game streaming has been built on a strong technology foundation, it hasn’t gained as much traction for users as we expected,” so we made the difficult decision to start ending the streaming service in Stadia.”
Google Stadia servers will be shut down on January 18, 2023. What does this mean for Stadia players in the meantime? Well, you will still be able to play any games you have purchased until the date of discontinuation. However, you will not be able to purchase any new games, nor will you be able to purchase any in-game content such as expansions, skins, battle tickets, etc. Stadia’s Pro subscription package has also been removed along with Ubisoft+, which allowed players to access any and all Ubisoft games on Stadia without having to make a full purchase. Essentially, the platform has already been finalized and players have been given a grace period of three months to finish their games.
It’s tough, especially for those who have made Stadia their gaming platform. It’s reasonably cheap, doesn’t require any expensive hardware, and in fairness, it’s got some top-notch gaming experiences from the big AAA releases all the way to classic indie games. But there is a silver lining. Google will return all purchases.
Details aren’t 100% clear at the time of writing, and the Stadia shutdown FAQ says several times that “more details” will follow in the coming weeks regarding refunds for devices. For games, things should be a little easier. Any games purchased during the short life of the platform will be refunded to the original payment method. It doesn’t matter if you’ve only made a one-time purchase or thrown thousands into the service, you’ll get a refund, as Google aims to process the majority of refunds before Stadia’s closing date of January 13, 2023. This also applies to future pre-orders, so if you’ve already pledged With the cash for a future release that will never see a Stadia broadcast, you’ll get that amount back as well.
For devices, Google states that in most cases, devices purchased directly through Google (consoles, streams) will not need to be returned, although the exact method for a refund is still being determined, more information will be available soon Urgent future. If you buy a Google Stadia set, keep an eye Help page For updates as each region will likely have different policies when it comes to refunds.
The writing has been on hold for a while with speculation that Google will add Stadia to its growing Google graveyard after the Alphabet-owned company announced the closure of its in-house development studios. In fact, the service was called “doomed to fail” even before it was officially launched, with many hardcore gamers skeptical about Google’s ability to hold a solid ground in the gaming industry by using only the cloud to power its platform. Unfortunately, it seems they were right.
Stadia worked as intended and so far remains one of the best cloud streaming experiences available. The future of the technology is uncertain, although it could end up in the hands of traditional players in the industry such as Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo, all of whom have embraced cloud gaming to varying degrees.
Google’s statement said the technology has been shown to work at scale and can be deployed to other areas of Google’s business, as well as made available to industry partners.
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