It was nearly three years ago when Google formally launched Stadia, a cloud gaming service accessible on most products that had an internet connection. Today, Google announced its plans to wind down the service and permanently shut it down. Despite being a great service, the main reason for the shutdown was that it was not gaining as much traction with users as Google had hoped.

While the news will certainly impact Stadia loyalists hard, Google is at least trying to make things right by offering refunds on all Stadia hardware that was purchased through the Google Store. This includes but is not limited to the Founders Edition, Premiere Edition, Play and Watch with Google TV packages and the Stadia Controller. Furthermore, the company will also be refunding game purchases, along with any add-on content that was purchased through the Stadia Store. Unfortunately, Stadia Pro subscriptions will not be eligible for a refund.

Google does not currently have any procedures in place for refunds but stated that it would be sending out emails with more information and updating its support page when things were finalized. Those that have pre-ordered any games will also be refunded. Those that made hardware purchases through physical retail locations will, unfortunately, be out of luck, as refunds for those products will not be refunded. The firm hopes to have a majority of the refunds it can take care of processed by mid-January of 2023.

Although the service will begin winding down, players will still be able to continue to have access to their games until January 18, 2023, which is quite a bit of time to complete any games and tie up any loose ends. Google did state that there could be issues with games during the wind-down, particularly any commerce-related features, but most games be okay. Luckily, the underlying technology of Stadia will not go to waste, as it sees opportunities to apply the technology across its other platforms and services. Finally, it shared that members of the Stadia team would find new jobs in other parts of the company.


Source: Google