Google is closing down Stadia

Stadia, Google’s cloud gaming service, is being decommissioned. Players will be able to use the service until January 18th, 2023. Google will reimburse any Stadia hardware bought via the Google Store, as well as all Stadia games and add-on material. Google anticipates that the reimbursements will be finished by mid-January.

“A few years ago, we also launched Stadia, a consumer gaming service,” Stadia vice president and general manager Phil Harrison wrote in a blog post. “And while Stadia’s approach to streaming games for consumers was built on a strong technological 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.” Stadia employees will be transferred to other parts of the company.

Google, according to Harrison, sees chances to adapt Stadia’s technology to other aspects of Google, such as YouTube, Google Play, and its AR projects, and the firm also aims to “make it accessible to our industry partners, which matches with where we see the future of gaming heading.”

The writing has been on the wall for Stadia for quite some time, most notably when Logitech introduced their new cloud gaming portable last week, with Stadia being one of the few cloud gaming providers that were not mentioned. Stadia, on the other hand, has been dogged by rumors of its demise since its inception. Stadia, a cloud gaming service from a business with scant links to the gaming industry, seemed to be a great candidate for early death.