Google is shutting down its cloud gaming service Stadia, joining some other companies who have made the decision to shut down their gaming units.
In a blog post on Thursday, Stadia Vice President GM Phil Harrison said the service will remain live for players until January 18th, 2023.
Google will be refunding all Stadia hardware purchased through the Google Store as well as all the games and add-on content purchased from the Stadia store. Google expects those refunds will be completed in mid-January.
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“A few years ago, we also launched a consumer gaming service, Stadia,” he said “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.”
The decision came more than two years after the gaming unit was launched. Although Google has struggled with Stadia, it had failed to openly admit it. Stadia employees will now join other parts of the company.
Pushing Stadia in the face of stiff competition from first-party Sony, Microsoft offerings and Amazon’s similar platform, Luna, was too hot for Google to handle. Last February, it shut down its own internal development studio, Stadia Games and Entertainment, which was created to bring exclusive first-party titles to the platform.
Harrison said at the time, “Given our focus on building on the proven technology of Stadia as well as deepening our business partnerships, we’ve decided that we will not be investing further in bringing exclusive content from our internal development team SG&E, beyond any near-term planned games.”
Google said for many years, it has invested across multiple aspects of the gaming industry. We help developers build and distribute gaming apps on Google Play and Google Play Games. Gaming creators are reaching audiences around the world on YouTube through videos, live streaming and Shorts. And our cloud streaming technology delivers immersive gameplay at massive scale.
Harrison says Google sees opportunities to apply Stadia’s technology to other parts of Google, like YouTube, Google Play, and its AR efforts, and the company also plans to “make it available to our industry partners, which aligns with where we see the future of gaming headed.
Though Google has made plans for refunds, it shared more details on how it intends to do that in a FAQ. Refunds will automatically be made through the Google and Stadia stores, and you won’t have to return any hardware. Stadia Pro subscriptions will not be eligible for a refund, but you will not be charged during the shutdown 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 can’t buy games or in-game transactions.
The Verge noted that the writing has been on the wall for Stadia for a while now, most recently when Logitech announced its new cloud gaming handheld last week and Stadia was one of the few cloud gaming services not mentioned. But Stadia has been facing rumors of its demise practically from the start. Google has a habit of killing projects only a few years after they launch, and Stadia, a cloud gaming service from a company with few ties in the gaming industry, seemed like a prime candidate for an early demise.
Last year, rumors abound it would shut down after the number of games released to the platform slowed and the company shuttered its in-house game development studios. When those rumors popped up again this year, Google insisted that Stadia was not shutting down. “Rest assured we’re always working on bringing more great games to the platform and Stadia Pro,” the company said in a tweet. Which was true… until today.