Google announced today that it is shutting down Stadia, its game streaming service.
In the announcement blog post, Google acknowledged that Stadia failed to gain the traction they expected and has decided to end the service early next year:
A few years ago, we also launched a consumer gaming service, Stadia. 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 good news here is that they are suggesting that they will refund all of your purchases related to Stadia, both hardware and software. The post specifically mentions that “all” Stadia hardware purchases from the Google Store and “all game and add-on content” as well:
We’re grateful to the dedicated Stadia players that have been with us from the start. We will be refunding all Stadia hardware purchases made through the Google Store, and all game and add-on content purchases made through the Stadia store. Players will continue to have access to their games library and play through January 18, 2023 so they can complete final play sessions. We expect to have the majority of refunds completed by mid-January, 2023.
Stadia will shutdown on January 18, so you’ll still be able to play all of your games through then. At that time, the service will stop working and the refunds should begin (many may be completed by then). Specifics on refunds are yet to be posted, but Google says to expect that info in the coming weeks. There’s a chance you’ll need to request a refund or it all could/should happen automatically.
This Stadia Help post will be updated with all of the refund details as Google posts them. If you have Stadia hardware and games, you’ll want to keep an eye on it.
As for Stadia and this bit of news, I don’t have much to say. If there’s a surprise here it’s that the service lasted as long as it did. RIP, Stadia.
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