Google Stadia: Service is shutting down and refunds being given to players

Google Stadia is closing down.

Google is shutting down its Stadia gaming service, less than four years after it was launched.

Phil Harrison, the vice-president and general manager of Stadia, announced that it would be shutting down on 18 January 2023.

Google Stadia is a cloud gaming service which allows players to stream high quality games, on a variety of different screens, offering instant access to play.

People who had bought the special Stadia controllers, or purchased games on the service, will be given their money back some time in January, and will have until 18 January 2023 to complete their games.

"While Stadia's approach to streaming games for consumers was built on a strong technology foundation, it 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," said Phil Harrison in a blog post.

"We're grateful to the dedicated Stadia players that have been with us from the start." he added.

Google Stadia launched on 19 November 2019, and had a bit of a bumpy start, with some of its features missing, and delays to people receiving their controllers and access codes.

However, people were impressed with its unlimited amount of space for downloads, and its ability to be played on any device that had Google chrome on it.

So you could switch from playing on a tv, to your phone or laptop and instantly pick up where you left off.

On the flip side, the service's need for a good internet connection, meant that some fans struggled to have a stable connection to the service.

Whilst Stadia did continue to add games to its library, it had a limited amount available, compared with other gaming services.

As Stadia is a cloud gaming service - meaning the games only exist on their virtual server - it means that for fans who bought games on the service, they won't be able to play them anymore after 18 January 2023, due to it closing.

Ultimately many gaming experts agree that Stadia just couldn't compete with other more established gaming services like the Xbox game pass, PlayStation Plus, Steam and Nintendo Online.

"We remain deeply committed to gaming, and we will continue to invest in new tools, technologies and platforms that power the success of developers, industry partners, cloud customers and creators," Paul Harrison said in his blog post.

What do you think? Do you use Google Stadia, if so how do you feel about it closing? Let us know in the comments.