When is Google Stadia shutting down? That's been the question on many gamers' lips for a couple of years now, and it's one Google has deflected time and time again...until now. Google Stadia is officially shutting down its service this coming January, according to an announcement by Google.
Over on the official Google Blog, Google confirms that it has made the "difficult decision" to shut down Stadia on January 18th next year. You'll still be able to play your Stadia games until that date, and Google says it's refunding all Stadia hardware purchases, as well as all game and add-on purchases, made for Stadia via the Stadia Store. It's an inauspicious end for the cloud gaming service, but it's not one that was particularly difficult to see coming.
As recently as July this year, Google was denying that it had any intention to kill Stadia, but it's been hard not to see the writing on the wall for some time. A lack of killer exclusives, dwindling support from Google itself, and prominent Stadia studio execs leaving the company all seemed like harbingers of doom for the service, and now, it looks like those harbingers were indeed prophesying the end.
In its blog post, Google points to Stadia not gaining "the traction with users that we expected" as its main reason for shutting down Stadia. The company says it's expecting to have all Stadia refunds processed "by mid-January", and if you want to claim a refund or find out how the process works, you can do so over at the Google Help Center.
So, what's the future for Google Stadia? Believe it or not, this won't be the end for the service...kind of. Stadia technology is already powering the cloud versions of various games in a "white label" sense, and Google has also integrated Stadia technology into YouTube, Google Play, and its AR initiatives. Google says it's still "deeply committed to gaming", too, so its involvement in the industry will continue in some way.
We'll have to wait and see what Google will do next in the gaming industry, but one thing's for sure: the ill-fated Stadia, which has been rumored to be shutting down for many months, will finally be no more this January. Looks like those Google Stadia demos tied to achievements won't be happening after all. Stay tuned to TechRaptor for more info on Google in the gaming industry.
