Known as the “Netflix for Games”, Stadia was a platform you could stream games online without owning a console that was launched in November 2019. They were hosted by Google and it was to take full advantage of the streaming capabilities we have in today’s society. With no console, no box, no wires, no discs and no downloads – you have everything you need to start playing high quality games from your device anywhere- all you need is a chrome browser which you can get on TV’s, PC’s, Laptops, Tablets and even mobiles. Stadia can stream your favourite games to any of your devices.
However, Stadia didn’t get the traction it deserved with gamers and therefore has to shut it down on 18th January 2023, promising to refund the players who purchased the stadia controller or any games/add ons. This is claimed to be completed by the middle of January.
Stadia vice president and general manager Phil Harrison said “A few years ago, we 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.” All employees on the Stadia team have been told they will be distributed to other parts of the company so they don’t lose their jobs.
Luckily, Stadia wasn’t a complete failure for Google as they have claimed they see opportunities to apply the technology of Stadia into other parts of the company such as YouTube, Google Play and its AR efforts.
According to Google, all refunds will automatically be made through the Google and Stadia stores and you won’t have to return any of the hardware. Sadly, Pro subscriptions will not be eligible for a refund but you will not be charged during the shutdown period and can still access the games you might have redeemed until the shutdown period is over. The Stadia store has also been shut down already so you can’t buy anymore games or make any transactions.
Recently, Logitech announced its new cloud gaming handheld and Stadia was one of the few services that was not mentioned in the announcement. But Stadia has been facing rumours of its failure from the start, Google have a habit of killing off projects only a few years after they launch and they have very little ties to the gaming industry so you can see why people believed in its early remise. The Platform started to slow last year and the rumours began about it’s shut down however Google insisted that they weren’t shutting down the platform and they were working on bringing lots more benefits to the platform… until today when they announced it was time.
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