Once upon a time, the fact that a big entity launched a service was some assurance that it might have a future. Over the years Google has certainly changed that expectation and the latest closure is the game streaming service Stadia, which will shut completely on January 18th, 2023.

Stadia was launched in 2019 as Google's attempt to get a share of the growing gaming sector. Its advantage to its users is that it requires no expensive hardware, like a gaming PC or console - all you need is a decent Internet connection of at least 10 Mbps. When it unveiled the service Google promised that Stadia would deliver game streams up to 4K in resolution at 60 fps, would support 5.1 surround sound and HDR and that for a subscription of $9.99 users could access some free games and could buy additional games through the Stadia store.

Google plans for Stadia started to unravel and in 2021 the closure was announced of Stadia Games and Entertainment, its in-house development studio dedicated to the streaming service. The studio hadn't produce a single game since its formation and Google referred to time and money as the reasons for shutting it down.

Money is presumably the reason behind shuttering Stadia - and it is going to cost Google some dosh as well as the loss of goodwill it is likely to suffer from the players using the service. Making yet another closure announcement, Phil Harrison, the Google Vice President responsible for Stadia, stated

We will be refunding all Stadia hardware purchases made through the Google Store, and all game and add-on content purchases made through the Stadia store. Players will continue to have access to their games library and play through January 18, 2023 so they can complete final play sessions. We expect to have the majority of refunds completed by mid-January, 2023.

Although the Stadia platform and game servers will remain online until January 18, 2023 and users can continue to play games in their libraries, the Stadia Store is already shut and all commerce on the Stadia platform, including in-game transactions has been disabled.

Google has provided additional information for those affected here.

So are the days of streaming gaming over? Most probably. The whole idea of supplying a fast responsive gaming environment via a comms link is fraught with difficulties. Gaming is one of the most demanding applications and anything that can be achieved using streaming could be don't better using a dedicated machine.

More Information

Stadia Announcement FAQ

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