Google closes Stadia, goodbye to the service: refunds are coming
The rumors had become more and more insistent in recent times, even if gaming enthusiasts hoped it was only rumors and not real intentions. Instead, in the past few hours, Google has officially announced that Stadia has now come to an end.
After almost three years of activity BigG has decided to close its streaming gaming service , which will say goodbye to everyone definitively in January 2023. As known, Stadia was able to guarantee users unique features such as 4K resolution, HDR color and 5.1 surround sound
Google Stadia vice president and general manager Phil Harrison explained the reasons that prompted the Mountain View headquarters to make this decision. In particular, Harrison dwells on the fact that Stadia has failed “to gain traction with the users we expected”. On the other hand, already the reports published at the beginning of 2021 indicated that Stadia had missed its expansion objectives among users in terms of “hundreds of thousands”.
A crucial aspect that Stadia customers want to know is whether all purchases made, including hardware purchased through the Google Store and all games and add-ons purchased through the Stadia Store, will be fully refunded.
The US company confirms refunds “for all Stadia hardware purchases (Stadia controllers, Founders Edition, Premiere Edition and Play and Watch packages with Google TV) made through the Google Store and software transactions (games and add-on purchases) through Stadia shop ”. However, those who purchased Stadia hardware from a physical retailer such as Best Buy or one of the two New York Google Stores will not be eligible for refunds.
Additionally, Google will not reimburse the costs of Stadia Pro subscriptions , although members will be able to continue using Stadia Pro benefits for free until the closing date set by BigG.
The games will continue to be available to Stadia customers until January 18, 2023 , while the refund process is expected to be completed by mid-January. As expected, all current Stadia game pre-orders are now canceled at no charge to users.
The announcement comes roughly two years after the closure of Stadia Games & Entertainment , which is Google’s attempt to create original first and second party games for Stadia. An effort that ran out pretty soon: hardly any AAA games were released in 2022.