Given that Google Stadia is a very new game streaming service, it would be reasonable to argue that it wouldn’t be able to compete with services like Xbox Cloud Gaming in terms of popularity. As a result, there were some suspicions that Google will eventually shut down the service; nevertheless, this has already been confirmed in a recent release.
Google Stadia’s Life Is Coming to an End!
The service will no longer be available after January 18, 2023, according to Google Stadia Vice President Phil Harrison. Users will have until that date to enjoy the service. The Stadia hardware (Stadia Controller, Founders Edition, Premiere Edition, and Play and Watch with Google TV bundles) purchased from the Google Store will also be eligible for refunds.
This is hardly shocking because Stadia wasn’t truly the preferred game streaming service among gamers. Google also recognized this. “And although Stadia’s approach to streaming games for customers was built on a strong technological basis, it hasn’t acquired the popularity with users that we expected, therefore we’ve made the tough choice to begin winding down our Stadia streaming service,” says Harrison in an official post.
However, three months have passed since Google denied claims that it was cancelling Stadia, therefore the situation has changed! The IT behemoth closed its Stadia Game Development Studio last year.
The Stadia Store has also been shut down by Google, and new game purchases are no longer permitted. There will be no more pre-orders in the future. While Stadia customers will still have a few months to enjoy the games, Google anticipates certain titles will have gameplay difficulties. For the majority of games, it is also feasible to transfer game progress to another platform.
This does not, however, imply that Google will stop supporting gaming. It will keep utilising Stadia’s technology for its AR project as well as YouTube and Google Play Store. Additionally, will continue to offer the same services to third parties like AT&T through the recently launched Immersive Stream for Games.
We’re interested to see what Google has in store for the game industry going ahead. We’ll let you know when there are any updates. Please share your thoughts regarding Google Stadia’s closure in the comments section below till then.
