Google said Thursday in a blog post that its Stadia cloud gaming service will be retiring on January 18. If you bought any Stadia hardware from the Google Shop, as well as any games or DLC from the Stadia store, you will receive a full refund from Google.
The tech giant hopes to finish payouts by mid-January.
If you had an active Stadia Pro subscription as of Thursday, you will still have access to your game library, which will include Pro games. Google informed users via email that their gaming experience during the shutdown period could be negatively impacted by a lack of publisher support for some games (suggesting that some games could vanish or lose features early).
It seems that Google did not notify many developers of the shutdown before the announcement was made on a public blog. Creators of Destiny 2 On Thursday, Bungie posted a tweet about developing “a plan of action” in response to the news. Ubisoft, the creators of the Assassin’s Creed series, announced on Friday that it will allow users who have purchased its games on Stadia to transfer them to PC via its Ubisoft Connect digital distribution service.
Axios reported on Friday that Google has had discussions with at least one studio (Luxor Evolved creator Olde Skuul) about compensation for lost revenue as a result of the sudden move.
Stadia VP/GM Phil Harrison gave some background on the decision by pointing out Google’s other gaming-related initiatives, such as the Google Play digital distribution business, its cloud technology, and YouTube streaming.
‘We also created a consumer gaming service, Stadia, a few years ago,’ he wrote. And while the technology behind Stadia’s approach to streaming games to consumers is solid, the service hasn’t caught on with users as we had hoped. As a result, we’ve made the tough decision to start winding down the Stadia streaming service.
According to the blog post, many members of the Stadia team are being transferred to other departments inside Google.
The release of the cloud gaming service in November 2019 was met with lukewarm enthusiasm.
“Stadia isn’t releasing new games [yet], but rather a new way to play games through the medium of streaming. One that is readily available from competing vendors, “A report by CNET’s Scott Stein at the time. “Stadium isn’t worth your time yet” until “Google discovers a way to loop in YouTube and produce truly unique competitive large-scale games.”
While Stadia’s library did include some high-quality titles, the platform ultimately stagnated. The closure of Google’s internal development lab in 2021 was seen as a sign that the company’s gaming focus was turning away from Stadia.
Xbox, PlayStation, Nvidia, and Amazon all offered cloud gaming options in addition to Stadia.
Harrison claims the technology may be used for YouTube, Google Play, and the company’s augmented reality initiatives, so it hasn’t been a total loss.
Google will share this technology with its business partners. By purchasing OnLive’s patents in 2015, just before the once-promising startup shut down, Sony gained its own streaming service a head start.
What is Google shutting down?
Currents, an app Google added to G Suite in 2019, is being discontinued in favor of Spaces, an app for managing “people, themes, and projects.” The purpose of Google Currents was to facilitate better water cooler conversations by introducing higher-ups and lower-downs in the workplace.
Will Stadia refund game purchases?
With the passing of Google Stadia on January 18th, customers who purchased hardware or titles from the Stadia store will be eligible for refunds.
If Stadia goes out of business, what will happen to my games?
Google Stadia, its cloud gaming service, will end on January 18. The search giant announced this in a blog post on Thursday. Google will refund all Stadia hardware bought from the Google Store as well as all games and extras bought from the Stadia store.
What will happen to Stadia controllers?
It is not necessary to send back Google-purchased hardware (Stadium Controller, Founders Edition, Premiere Edition, and Play and Watch with Google TV packages).
Why is Stadia being shut down?
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