While there still are a lot of games lined up for a Stadia release, Stadia is shutting down, as Google gets Stadia canceled for good.
Google will shut down the cloud-based console and gaming service Stadia, only three years after it was formally launched in November 2019, Google announced through a statement.
“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.”
Apart from the service concluding its services soon, Google has been winding down its investments and efforts on the platform even way before, shutting down its game development arm way back in 2021. Now, Google has decided that it’s not worth keeping Stadia alive altogether, leading to its decision to shut down the entire cloud-based gaming service.
For Stadia players, all of their hardware purchases made through the Google Store will be automatically refunded, and all game and add-on content purchases made through the Stadia Store will be refunded as well. Meanwhile, players will still be able to access their game libraries until January 18, 2023, which is also when the final round of refunds should be taking place. If you experience any issues with your refund or want to know more details about the refund process, Google encourages players to go to its Help Center.
In spite of the refunds, players will end up with a Google Stadia device that will no longer work or interface with anything, as Google says that there will be no need to return any hardware for the refund to be processed. This is something to be expected for a service that is entirely online – there will be no more discs or cartridges you can play with after the service goes offline.
Meanwhile, the team behind Stadia will continue working in Google in spite of the product being canceled. The technology they developed will instead be integrated or applied into Google’s other projects.