TECH

Cloud gaming service Stadia has gone to the graveyard

Google closed another project. This time, the cloud gaming service Stadia has gone to Google's notorious graveyard.

Google explains its decision with the low popularity of the service. A few years ago, we launched the consumer gaming service Stadia. And while Stadia's approach to consumer game streaming was built on a solid technological foundation, it didn't get the user adoption we were hoping for, so we've made the difficult decision to start phasing out our Stadia streaming service.

Money for purchases within the Google service promises to return. We are grateful to the dedicated Stadia players who have been with us since the beginning. We will refund all Stadia hardware purchases made on the Google Store and all game and add-on purchases made on the Stadia Store. Players will still have access to their game library and will play until January 18, 2023 to complete their final game sessions. We expect most returns to be completed by mid-January 2023

The company also says that the technology platform built for Stadia is doing well, so it may find its way to the company's other services, including YouTube.

Rumors about a possible Stadia shutdown surfaced a few months ago, but Google tried to refute them. As you can see, they were still correct. Mind you, Stadia debuted less than three years ago. Initially, Google had big plans, including developing its own games, but the company quickly abandoned those plans.

mundophone