Google is shutting down Stadia, will refund all purchases made on the service
How many people get to exclaim that they called it? Because in January 2023, Google will be shutting down Stadia, its cloud streaming game service. Stadia launched back in 2019, and allowed users to purchase games through the service, and have them streamed to their device via the cloud. It also offered a subscription service that cost $10 a month, and featured 4K resolution support and a library of free games each month.
Things began to get shaky for Stadia in early 2021, following the departure of the project's VP, and then the prompt closing of all internal Stadia game development studios. After the decision to not develop any indie games in-house after that, it was reported that Google paid "ten of millions" of dollars to secure AAA Stadia ports. Back in July of this year, the official Stadia Twitter account assured fans that it was not shutting down amidst rumors and reports that the opposite was true.
Google's reasoning behind shutting down Stadia is that it never gained the traction that the company expected it to. Anyone who has purchased any Stadia games will have until January 18, 2023 to play them, and after which, the service will be shuttered. Customers that made any purchases, whether it was Stadia games, add-on content, or even hardware, will be fully refunded by the end of January 2023.
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