Today, Google has announced that it is shutting down its Cloud Gaming Service, Stadia.
Thanks to its low rate of attracting gamers, failed promises, and lack of Stadia- exclusive games for the platform. This announcement was posted on Google’s Stadia blog, with Phil Harrison, the Vice President and General Manager of Stadia, having few words regarding the life and demise of the cloud streaming service.
According to Google, Stadia owners would still be able to access their libraries until January 18, 2023. Thankfully, anyone who purchased hardware and games through the Stadia store will be refunded. Google expects those refunds to be completed by mid-January 2023. At least whoever purchased anything from the Stadia store is even being refunded. We had discussed what the fallout of Stadia going under would be a few weeks ago and if Google would honor refunds. I’m glad to see that, at least, is happening.
Sadly, with all things that Google doesn’t deem a success, Stadia is the latest project with failure written all over it. Having Jade Raymond depart a few months ago, and going on to create a PlayStation studio, definitely wasn’t a good sign. I’m surprised that Stadia lasted as long as it did. I chalk that up to there being not much being worth playing on Stadia or introducing input delay that you wouldn’t find elsewhere. Everything, except Gylt, was already available for PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Switch, or PC.
Then you have to wonder about those developers who still have games being released for Stadia. Not just the big developers, but the indie companies, could end up eating the cost of porting their games to Stadia.
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.
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
For the Stadia team, building and supporting Stadia from the ground up has been fueled by the same passion for games that our players have. Many of the Stadia team members will be carrying this work forward in other parts of the company. We’re so grateful for the groundbreaking work of the team and we look forward to continuing to have an impact across gaming and other industries using the foundational Stadia streaming technology.
I feel bad for the team that worked on Stadia, especially since they’ll eventually be out of a job unless they are moved to other channels at Google, maybe YouTube.
When I reviewed Stadia when it was first released, I mentioned I thought the technology was solid. Yet, it wasn’t ready for the masses as there was no focus, and now we’re seeing the results of that lack of focus. It stinks, but sadly, too many companies are focusing on cloud gaming, and the weakest ones are being weeded out. Stadia didn’t have what it took to compete, pure and simple.
