Google plans to shut down Stadia on January 18, 2023, and will refund hardware, software, and DLC purchases; members of the Stadia team will be reassigned

which scary games do you have queued up? @slimefiend : but... game streaming is the future https://twitter.com/... @wario64 : “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...” https://twitter.com/... David Pierce / @pierce : Google killing Stadia is very sad and not even one tiny little bit surprising https://www.theverge.com/... Andi Hamilton / @andihero : who could've possibly seen this coming https://twitter.com/... James McLeod / @jamespmcleod : Imagine if this company had been allowed to build a neighbourhood in Toronto. https://twitter.com/... @drcullenphd : Please check in on your local stadian (singular) https://twitter.com/... @java_jigga : Godspeed stadia, you were the only way people could run cyberpunk higher than 35 fps at launch Jon / @mrdalekjd : Press F to pay respects to Google Stadia Shutting down for good in January 2023. Can't say I'm surprised tbh. @_firemonkey : Goat Simulator x Fortnite happened the same day Google announced Stadia is being shut down. https://twitter.com/... Nick Statt / @nickstatt : Stadia's death was a long time coming, but still shocking it took them this long after shutting down their internal studios to throw in the towel. I have to wonder why they delayed the inevitable for so long when it meant consumer purchases / employee livelihood on the line. Domenico Lamberti / @mobile_dom : genuinely quite sad about this. as someone who doesnt game often, Stadia has been great. goood performance, great games, actually good latency. i see myself gaming less because of this, not moving to something else like GeForce now or whatever microsofts one is called https://twitter.com/... David ImeI / @durvidimel : It is truly unfortunate that the “I give this x years until Google shuts this down” memes continue to be correct year after year, but here we are. Still, it was a good step in creating a push towards cloud gaming in the industry. And I loved the controller. RIP https://twitter.com/... Mat Honan / @mat : Shocking. https://twitter.com/... Andy Orin / @andyorin : man oh man. the tech worked! it was everything else https://twitter.com/... @aerospacecowboy : stadians...how are we gonna worm our way out of this one... https://twitter.com/... @nibellion : Confirmed by Google: Stadia is done https://blog.google/... https://twitter.com/... @nibellion : Google Stadia to shut down on January 18 https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/...

The Verge 2022-09-30

Context & Ripple Effects

Stadia began with a promise of instant play across Chrome, Android, and TVs, but its early review found missing features and a service that felt unfinished. Subsequent reporting tied its limited catalog to weak developer incentives and described missed controller-sales and active-user targets.

The reported pivot toward a white-label Google Stream service suggested Google was already looking beyond a standalone consumer platform. The shutdown turns that shift into a clean break from Stadia’s direct retail model.

First-order effects

Stadia buyers receive refunds for hardware, games, and add-ons, while their access to the service’s library ends on January 18, 2023.
Google removes Stadia as a consumer gaming product and reassigns its team rather than continuing to operate the platform.

Second-order effects

Developers and publishers that supported Stadia lose a distribution outlet whose sparse library had already been linked to Google’s developer compensation approach.
The refund policy prevents Google from retaining Stadia purchase revenue after access ends, making the closure less financially disruptive for customers but underscoring that storefront access depended on the service.

Third-order effects

The closure strengthens the case that cloud-gaming services need durable content and customer-retention economics, not only streaming technology, to sustain a standalone consumer offering.
Google’s earlier reported white-label direction points to cloud-game infrastructure being more viable as a business-to-business capability than as a branded game-library destination, if that approach continues.

The trend: Cloud gaming is shifting from ambitious standalone platforms toward models where content economics and service ownership determine whether streaming technology reaches consumers directly.

Discussion

@raveofravendale Mike Rose on x
Oh my god https://www.theverge.com/... We have a game coming to Stadia in November. Who wants to guess that Google will refuse to pay us the money they owe us for it
@aaditdoshi Aadit Doshi on x
To be fair, Google Stadia faced terrible odds in the past 3 years, having to deal with: - a global pandemic forcing people to turn to online entertainment. - graphic cards and console shortages, creating high demand for alternatives. If only they hit the market at a better time
@patio11 Patrick McKenzie on x
It doesn't matter what a PM at Google tells you; they'll rotate outwards after next perf cycle and it will be a new PM who will be utterly powerless to stop Google's mismanagement from shutting down the project you rely on. You have to treat all non-core products as ephemeral.
@zoneoftech Daniel on x
And yet another canned Google product (currently 275). Some products need more care and attention, before they can flourish. Rather than improving on it, focusing on marketing to push Stadia to more and more people and regions, Google decided to gave up entirely. #RIPStadia https…
@tomwarren Tom Warren on x
hard disagree. Google Stadia mattered a lot. It was key to Bungie continuing Destiny 2 development during the pandemic. It was key in pushing Microsoft to launch Xbox Cloud Gaming. Stadia might have failed, but it definitely had impact https://twitter.com/...
@notbrunoagain @notbrunoagain on x
Stadia *barely* lived long enough that if you started making a game for Stadia just as the service launched you might, just might, have been able to ship just in time for it to exist for 2-3 months before the plug was pulled
@lonelygoomba @lonelygoomba on x
Stadia fans end up winning and getting everything for the free the entire time. Playing the long game
@ronamadeo Ron Amadeo on x
lol. The self-fulfilling prophecy is complete. Nobody bought Stadia because they assumed Google would kill it, and Google is forced to kill Stadia because it's unpopular. Google's reputation for killing services killed a service,. I'm not sure how the company ever fixes that.
@boredelonmusk @boredelonmusk on x
Within minutes of Google Stadia being announced I knew it would be a failure. Confusing price structure, lack of a unique library, lack of clarity of game ownership, and perhaps most importantly, Google has basically zero pedigree in gaming. https://blog.google/...
@suka_hiroaki Andreas Proschofsky on x
Apparently the Stadia team was only told about the upcoming shutdown of the service 45 minutes prior to the public. Really shitty move, Google https://9to5google.com/...
@antdude92 @antdude92 on x
The Wii U had a longer life than Google Stadia 🙌 https://twitter.com/...
@mistydemeo Misty on x
The thing that amazes me with the Stadia shutdown is how poorly they handled communication. Developers shouldn't be finding out that you're shutting down your platform, that they're actively making games with you for, from Twitter!
@vicious696 Parris on x
unfortunate news for Stadia the concept was fantastic and the cloud tech is arguably industry leading but ultimately the early promises at launch were never realized and the business model just never made sense IMO https://twitter.com/...
@lonelygoomba @lonelygoomba on x
Google refunding everything on Stadia is some commendable shit though.
@noahncopeland @noahncopeland on x
it's still so crazy to me how everyone said “this isn't gonna work, it won't last very long” and that's exactly what happened. https://twitter.com/...
@djsnm Scott Manley on x
Stadia is finally giving up, it says a lot about the viability of streaming games that it couldn't survive even with the help of the pandemic making people spend more time at home. https://blog.google/...
@freakzonegames @freakzonegames on x
Everybody fucking called it on day 1. Not only does game streaming just not work well enough to be a platform, but this is Google and this is what Google does. At least they're refunding everybody's purchases. https://twitter.com/...
@joshmunsee Josh Munsee on x
These decisions are never easy. Have to applaud Google for making a big bet and entering into the cloud gaming space - driving a ton of innovation for this type of gaming experience. Hope everyone who has continued to work on Stadia finds a good landing spot within Google. https:…
@solridley @solridley on x
this is the biggest inherent problem with cloud gaming. stadia is going down, so you lose your whole library forever with nothing to show for it. imagine if google wasn't doing refunds https://twitter.com/...
@reduzio Juan Linietsky on x
It was assumed dead by almost everyone the moment they announced their business model. The market expected a Netflix of games, they launched a platform to buy games you don't own. In the end, nobody bought games, expecting it would die soon, resulting in self fulfilled prophecy. …
@kevinctofel @kevinctofel on x
The shame is that I think there is a market for cloud gaming. And if there is, this all comes down to the implementation and business model. Or maybe the initial lack of trust that this day would come. https://www.theverge.com/...
@mcclure111 @mcclure111 on x
Stadia is not a product that exists because people want it. I'm not sure why it exists. But it seems to exist because it *could*. Google knew how to make it, & it would be a good thing for Google if people wanted it, so they just *made* it & assumed the reasons why would follow.
@ronamadeo Ron Amadeo on x
Stadia must go down as the biggest money loser in Google history. Free hardware for everyone, refunds to consumers for games while still having to pay the developers, who knows how many make-nice deals for developers that ended up making a game for a dead platform. Yikes.
@jasonschreier Jason Schreier on x
Left: Google Stadia boss Phil Harrison to me in 2019 Right: Google Stadia boss Phil Harrison three years later https://twitter.com/...
@starfire2258 Sean Hollister on x
It's still weird to look back and see how poorly it launched. Maybe soon Googlers can explain the huge disconnect that must have occurred: https://www.theverge.com/...
@znh Zach N. Hofer-Shall on x
Google Stadia will be merging with Google Meet/Hangouts to become the new Google Hangouts with Meet Stadia. Separately, Google Stadea will continue to operate independently, but soon will merge with Google's other streaming game service, Google Stado, which was rebranded from the…
@fosspatents Florian Mueller on x
Apple didn't approve an iOS version of Stadia with gameplay. Other streaming services face the same problem: Apple says each title needs to be separately reviewed. That's unreasonable, but more flexibility on Apple's side probably wouldn't have made Stadia commercially viable. ht…
@anildash Anil on x
they need the “stadia” name for a new messaging service https://twitter.com/...
@austinj Austin Johnsen on x
Damn. The hardware was honestly great but never found a real reason to use it https://twitter.com/...
@pkafka Peter Kafka on x
Google spent a gazillion dollars trying to crack video games. Couldn't do it. Amazon is also flailing. Helps explain, sorta, why Microsoft wants to pay $70 billion for Activision. https://www.vox.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@modestproposal1 @modestproposal1 on x
Google continues steadily culling its science fair projects while Amazon held a big event yesterday including upgrading “Hunches” for Alexa so that it will detect if your kid is eating crayons again and yell “nein” at them in a stern German accent. https://twitter.com/...
@artemr @artemr on x
@PoorlyAgedStuff Google already had a terrible reputation when it comes to killing products resulting in places like @killedbygoogle and https://gcemetery.co/. Now it's going to tank to a new low. Who will trust them to keep a major initiative going? We've been burned so many tim…
@tomwarren Tom Warren on x
Stadia was pronounced dead as soon as Google announced it. It simply launched too soon and felt beta for a long time. I liked it a lot, but the world isn't ready for cloud-only game streaming just yet. Cloud is successful when it's an option right now https://twitter.com/...
@gaberivera Gabe Rivera on x
I Googled to see if anyone ever got a Stadia tattoo, and... Google did not let me down on this one. https://twitter.com/...
@artemr @artemr on x
Only 4 months of life left in Stadia. What a huge bummer, we use it nightly. “Players will continue to have access to their games library and play through Jan 18, 2023 so they can complete final play sessions. We expect to have the majority of refunds completed by mid-Jan, 2023”
@film_girl Christina Warren on x
Stadia dying is such an amazing Rocket Rule scenario. I'm laughing so hard.
@9to5mac @9to5mac on x
never used it but assume it's another messaging app https://twitter.com/...
@stephentotilo Stephen Totilo on x
Maybe the people who keep popping up in my mentions convinced that Assassin's Creed Mirage will come to Stadia and not just Luna will quit it. Hope everyone at Stadia lands on their feet. https://twitter.com/...
@jetscott Scott Stein on x
RIP, Stadia. The refund part is a surprise. The ideas never got to evolve into what I thought would happen, but cloud gaming's sticking around. https://www.cnet.com/...
@ianmorris78 Ian Morris on x
Shoutout to Cody, who has been locked out of @killedbygoogle but today isn't Stadia is Dead day, it's Cody was right day https://twitter.com/...
@b_fung Brian Fung on x
This is tragic, but I can't say I'm surprised. The writing has been on the wall for months https://blog.google/... https://twitter.com/...
@devindra Devindra Hardawar on x
When we said don't buy games from a streaming platform, this is why https://blog.google/...
@paultassi Paul Tassi on x
RIP Stadia you...existed https://twitter.com/...
@nibellion @nibellion on x
From Google's Stadia eulogy - Google will refund all Stadia hardware purchases through the Google Store & games + addons through the Stadia Store - Majority of refunds to be completed mid-January - Stadia's tech will be used by other products & industry partners
@tim_stevens Tim Stevens on x
A sad development that I think we all saw coming for, oh, a good three years or so. https://twitter.com/...
@mynameisbyf @mynameisbyf on x
I know people memed on it, but it was good to have a cheaper way to play games out there that didn't necessarily require purchasing a console or high end computer. I know friends who started and had great communities in Destiny on Stadia. It's a damn shame. https://twitter.com/..…
@carnage4life Dare Obasanjo on x
It was obvious to everyone except Google apparently that this service was destined to being shut down. They kept canceling bits and pieces of it each year but kept pretending there was still a core product left to save. Until there was nothing left. https://www.theverge.com/...
@googlestadia @googlestadia on x
Spooky season is almost upon us — which scary games do you have queued up?
@slimefiend @slimefiend on x
but... game streaming is the future https://twitter.com/...
@wario64 @wario64 on x
“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...” https://twitter.com/...
@pierce David Pierce on x
Google killing Stadia is very sad and not even one tiny little bit surprising https://www.theverge.com/...
@andihero Andi Hamilton on x
who could've possibly seen this coming https://twitter.com/...
@jamespmcleod James McLeod on x
Imagine if this company had been allowed to build a neighbourhood in Toronto. https://twitter.com/...
@drcullenphd @drcullenphd on x
Please check in on your local stadian (singular) https://twitter.com/...
@java_jigga @java_jigga on x
Godspeed stadia, you were the only way people could run cyberpunk higher than 35 fps at launch
@mrdalekjd Jon on x
Press F to pay respects to Google Stadia Shutting down for good in January 2023. Can't say I'm surprised tbh.
@_firemonkey @_firemonkey on x
Goat Simulator x Fortnite happened the same day Google announced Stadia is being shut down. https://twitter.com/...
@nickstatt Nick Statt on x
Stadia's death was a long time coming, but still shocking it took them this long after shutting down their internal studios to throw in the towel. I have to wonder why they delayed the inevitable for so long when it meant consumer purchases / employee livelihood on the line.
@mobile_dom Domenico Lamberti on x
genuinely quite sad about this. as someone who doesnt game often, Stadia has been great. goood performance, great games, actually good latency. i see myself gaming less because of this, not moving to something else like GeForce now or whatever microsofts one is called https://twi…
@durvidimel David ImeI on x
It is truly unfortunate that the “I give this x years until Google shuts this down” memes continue to be correct year after year, but here we are. Still, it was a good step in creating a push towards cloud gaming in the industry. And I loved the controller. RIP https://twitter.co…
@mat Mat Honan on x
Shocking. https://twitter.com/...
@andyorin Andy Orin on x
man oh man. the tech worked! it was everything else https://twitter.com/...
@aerospacecowboy @aerospacecowboy on x
stadians...how are we gonna worm our way out of this one... https://twitter.com/...
@nibellion @nibellion on x
Confirmed by Google: Stadia is done https://blog.google/... https://twitter.com/...
@nibellion @nibellion on x
The Verge: Google Stadia to shut down on January 18 https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/...

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