About Stadia
Google is closing down its video game streaming service, Stadia, in January 2023. All purchases will be reverted back and the tech will continue to be used in YouTube and other areas of its business, however, the app for customers and storefront will shut down after five years of its launch, piling in the existing dump of projects that Google has shut down.
While Stadia's aim towards streaming games for customers was based upon a robust tech foundation, it failed to gain the traction with the users that Google expected, resulting in the difficult decision of shutting down Stadia's streaming service.
Google's Response
Vice President Phil Harrison said that Google is grateful for the players that have been there since the beginning of Stadia. The company will give back all the in-game purchases done on Google Store, including game and add-on content purchases made via the Stadia store.
Players will continue to have access to their games library and can play until January 18, 2023, so that they complete the final play sessions.
The gaming industry giant further said that refunds will be completed by mid-January, emphasizing that while Stadia will die, the tech behind it will still be available to "industry partners" for other joint-ventures, like AT&T's latest attempt to launch Batman: Arkham Knight on smartphones using streaming.
People had a hunch of Google's moves, but what is surprising has Ubisoft announced "Assassin's Creed Mirage" will stream on Amazon's Luna service, but not Stadia, the first game in the blockbuster series to do this.
The rise and fall of Stadia
When Stadia was initially launched, Google talked a huge game back during the Game Developer Conference 2019, however, it was evident later that Stadia wasn't quite up for the game.
The tech was impressive, however, major features were missing, and the launch library was not up to the mark. Stadia kept on adding new games, most of them bought a la carte, to make it a lucrative investment for the casual audience Stadia was made for.
However, Xbox Game Pass surfaced and combined a giant library with a mere monthly fee. Stadia, on the other hand, was struggling to bring big games to its platform, spending tens of millions to lure games like Red Dead Redemption 2.
Google's next ventures
It doesn't mean that Stadia was a flop since the beginning. Google's track record, and Stadia's own history, make one ask whether they even wanted to be in this thing in the first place.
Stadia's first-party studios closed down last year, abandoning projects in the pre-production stage and leaving a few developers who moved to a different place feeling cheated by the company.
Harrison says Google is committed to gaming and will keep on investing in new tools, tech, and platforms that give a boost to developers, industry partners, cloud customers, and creators.
