Unexpectedly and unceremoniously, Google has just announced that the Google Stadia cloud gaming service will be shutting down, at least for now. In this way, the service that served as competition for Microsoft’s Xbox Cloud Gaming and Nvidia’s GeForce Now disappears for different reasons.
Among the causes that motivated this decision by Google; highlights the fact that in the period of existence it was not possible to gain a place of preference among users of this type of streaming.
After this measure, some refunds are pending for Stadia hardware purchases that were made via the Google Store. This also includes those concerning purchases of games and other types of content from the Stadia Store. However, it was learned that all is not lost as players will be able to continue using the game library until at least January 2023.
The company wants to do the right thing, and confirmed that it will refund all Google Stadia purchases of hardware, software, and game DLC . In this sense, refunds will be made automatically through the Google and Stadia stores, and you will supposedly not have to return any hardware.
Google Stadia will close permanently on January 18, 2023
As for the closing date, it is planned that on January 18, 2023, the servers that gave life to Google Stadia during its ephemeral existence will be permanently shut down. Additionally, it was known that in the Stadia Store it will not be possible to continue making any type of purchases within the games, much less buy new ones.
Despite this, Google has emphasized that the technology behind Stadia will remain alive and dormant. This appears to be supported by their recent announcement of Immersive Stream for Games as part of Google Cloud for Enterprise.
In other words, the remains of Stadia will be used to develop technologies in the field of virtual augmented reality . Of course, the details of how they plan to do this in the near future are not known.
It should be noted that Google has wanted to make it clear that this does not mean that they will not continue to invest in video games and the technologies that they entail: “We will remain deeply committed to games and continue to invest in new tools, technologies and platforms.” At least that’s what company spokesmen say.
Source | google-blog