Google is shutting down Stadia, will refund all purchases made on the service

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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.

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. We have more details for players on this process on our Help Center.

The underlying technology platform that powers Stadia has been proven at scale and transcends gaming. We see clear opportunities to apply this technology across other parts of Google like YouTube, Google Play, and our Augmented Reality (AR) efforts — as well as make it available to our industry partners, which aligns with where we see the future of gaming headed. We remain deeply committed to gaming, and we will continue to invest in new tools, technologies and platforms that power the success of developers, industry partners, cloud customers and creators.

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ShadowOne333

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So a nonsense I and others can not necessarily afford a PC for a few thousand there is the cloud alternative really handy as in my case GeForce Now.
There's quite a bunch of problems with cloud streaming:
  • You're forced to be connected to the internet. Cloud streaming basically kills any kind of perks that using a Switch or Steam Deck would have if you go for said option.
  • You pretty much require a decent-to-good connection to the internet. If you don't have this, you'll have an awful time in both syncing and inputlag
  • You are dependent on the servers running the game to be working, and to not go offline anytime soon.
  • You don't own the game itself but rather just access to a server. It's more like a rental system if you will.
And many more, but those are the main issues I see with it.
 

SnAQ

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I only had good experience with Stadia with my 500Mbit Fibre connection.

Even my friend who was a die-hard Stadia hater changed his mind when he tried it out at my house.

Really nice that we'll get a refund for everything atleast, about 3000 SEK incoming.
 

Cris1997XX

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Microsoft still is betting a lot on their cloud thing. Also they don't sell shit, but push monthly fees a lot too. This is the big danger for our beloved hobby right now, since stadia died.
Hey, don't ever put Microsoft on the same level as Google. At least they have the proper infrastructure for this kind of shit :rofl2:
 

jt_1258

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Tbh all kinds of "cloud streaming" services should be terminated for good.
They do nothing but harm the user with the idiocy of gaming while relying on shady internet connections, and let's not talk about the DRM implications here.
tbh. geforce now isn't the worst experience in the world. I still wouldn't play rhythm/fighting games on it but at least you actually own the games on digital store fronts that aren't susceptible to the streaming platform going down and can get a taste of what gaming on a decent gaming computer is like. I know I'm comming off like a shill but tbh it got me along till I finally built a proper pc
 

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