Stadia is shutting down, according to an announcement made by Google. This is despite the tech giant previously denying that it will be ending its cloud gaming service.
What this means is that Stadia users can access their games as well as play through only until January.
Google has explained its reason behind making the decision and expressed its gratitude to Stadia's users. The company has also discussed in its announcement whether or not players will be refunded for their purchases, including hardware already bought.
Here is what you have to know about Stadia's shutdown:
Stadia is Shutting Down — But Why?
Google’s game streaming platform launches new features to invite friends and family into streaming and updates its YouTube connectivity feature.
Stadia's shutdown may or may not come as a surprise depending on who you ask, but Google has nonetheless provided an explanation as to why.
According to Google's announcement, despite the fact that "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."
Access to games and play through will be available until January 18, 2023 only.
Google has thanked Stadia users for their support and assured everyone that "many of the Stadia team members will be carrying this work forward in other parts of the company."
Will Stadia Users be Refunded?
Google has also assured users that they will receive refunds a result of the shutdown.
All the Stadia hardware purchases by users as well as game purchases will be refunded. Add-on content purchases will likewise be refunded by Google.
Google says in its announcement that most of the refunds will be completed by mid-January.
Related Article: Video Game Revolution: The Google Stadia
Stadia Has Fallen Short
A report by PC Gamer noted that Google's cloud gaming service "never lived up to its promise." The reportn noted how things had not gone right even with the system's launch due to the absence of many basic features.
Eurogamer has also noted that reports have previously claimed that the tech giant no longer prioritized the consumer-facing side of Stadia. Still, Google assured users last year that the cloud gaming service was doing just fine.
What is Google Stadia?
As previously mentioned, Stadia is Google's cloud gaming service. Launched in November 2019, it can be accessible through a number of ways. These include Google Chrome, Chromecast Ultra as well as Android TV devices, and even an app available on supported Android smartphones.
Stadia is not the first gaming-related service that Google has killed. As the report of PC Gamer notes, it joins YouTube Gaming in the list of projects that the tech giant has axed.
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