Google Stadia is shutting down after three years

Awkwardly after announcing a UI overhaul and the next batch of Stadia Pro games yesterday, Google also announced that it is completely shutting down the service. Just three years after launching, Stadia will go offline in January 2023, and Google is going to refund all hardware and software purchases. 

According to a recent blog post from Phil Harrison, VP and GM of Stadia, the platform will be brought down on January 18th, 2023. The Stadia store is now offline, preventing you from acquiring more games on the soon-to-die platform. All the money users have spent on Stadia hardware and software (games and add-ons) will be refunded by mid-January. Any hardware is yours to keep. Stadia Pro subscriptions are not eligible for the refund program, but you won't be charged during the shutdown period.

Even if Stadia is shutting down soon, the technology will remain. Google plans to employ it on other products, including YouTube, Google Play, and AR. Moreover, the company also expects to share it with industry partners, as it began doing back in March.

The rumours regarding the Stadia shutdown have been making the rounds for a while. However, earlier this year Google insisted Stadia was sticking around for the long-term. Many Stadia employees weren't informed of the decision until yesterday at the same time the news went public.

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KitGuru says: Google appeared to be caught off-guard by how difficult (and expensive) it would be to really be to establish itself in the gaming market. With no original or first-party games and a lack of publishing history, the company failed to make a good case for choosing streaming over a native platform. 

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