Google has announced that the Google Stadia game streaming service is closing down and that all hardware and game purchases will be refunded. Google Stadia was promoted as Netflix for games, back when it was first announced in 2019. Unfortunately, that promise has officially gone unfulfilled.
The concept of streaming games over the Internet is a great one on paper, and Google Stadia had a lot of interest at launch, but the service was never able to maintain any kind of momentum. The inconsistent nature of a lot of Internet connections worldwide meant that streaming games could be a pain, which is why people have largely stuck to physical and digital media. Google Stadia also faced stiff competition from the likes of Amazon Luna, PlayStation Now, and Xbox Game Pass. Even Netflix has streaming mobile games on its service nowadays.
The end is nigh for the Google Stadia service. A post on the official Google blog has announced that Google Stadia will be shutting down on January 18, 2023. All hardware and digital game purchases will also be refunded by mid-January 2023, though no exact date has been given for the refund and details are still scarce. Google Stadia will remain active until the final closing date, so players will still have some time to finish up the games they did purchase on the service.
Google Stadia Is Finally Closing Down & Refunding All Purchases
The writing has been on the wall for Google Stadia for a while now. Google Stadia was missing features at launch which were promised during the initial promotion for the game. The real proving ground for Google Stadia’s success was the pandemic, as the lockdowns meant that there were a lot of people at home looking for entertainment, at a time when the second-hand console market and PC hardware prices were sky-high. This was the chance for Google to go hard on Stadia promotion, but the chance slipped away.
The question regarding Google’s plan for Google Stadia has been pondered by fans for a while now, and it seems that the answer was that there wasn’t one. The fact that fans can claim back some of the money they spent on the service is a benefit, even though people who spent cash on Google Stadia Pro likely won’t be seeing any money for their subscription. Google could have had something special with Google Stadia, but the technology just wasn’t there yet, and the company always seemed reticent about fully committing to the Google Stadia service, despite its incredible potential in a world of expensive hardware.
