Google Stadia shutdown scheduled for January 18

Via a blog post shared today, Google announced the game streaming service Google Stadia will shut down on January 18, 2023.

The Google Stadia shutdown announcement comes almost four years after Google launched its cloud gaming service. According to the post, Stadia “hasn’t gained the traction with users that we expected so we’ve made the difficult decision to begin winding down our Stadia streaming service.”

The company will offer refunds for all purchased hardware and software (including games and add-ons) via the Google Store. However, a separate FAQ page says the company will not refund users who signed up for the Stadia Pro subscriptions. Also, Google will no longer charge active Stadia Pro users “for access to their Pro library or other subscription entitlements during the shut-down period.”

In addition, users also can no longer purchase games or in-game transactions at the Stadia Store. As of today, the Stadia controller is no longer available for purchase (archive | screenshot). The website continues to be available (archive).

Players will still have access to their library of purchased games until the last day of service. Refunds are expected to arrive for most people in mid-January.

Google plans to use the Stadia technology with its other successful services such as YouTube and Google Play, according to Phil Harrison, Vice President and General Manager at Stadia. Last year, Stadia shut down its only game studio.

Stadia becomes the latest Google service to come to an end, joining Google Wave, Google+ and Google Reader.

[Sources]: Google Blog: A message about Stadia and our long term streaming strategy – [Archive] – [Screenshot]. Stadia Help: Stadia Announcement FAQ – [Archive] – [Screenshot].