Google has officially announced their decision to close down their cloud video game service, Stadia, on January 18, 2023.
Phil Harrison, Vice President and General Manager of Stadia, said in a recent blog post that “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.”
The Vice President also said that Google will be refunding all Stadia hardware purchases made through the Google Store, in addition to all digital game and add-on purchases made through the Stadia Store.
The search engine organisation caught media attention back in 2019 with their announcement of an ambitious new cloud streaming gaming service to compete against the likes of Xbox and Playstation.
Upon release in 2019, the service was met with mixed reviews, with some praising its innovative new take on the gaming industry.
Others, however, felt that the unreliability of online internet connectivity combined with a limited game library left the service feeling lacklustre.
Players will still be able to access Stadia content until its closure on January 18, 2023.
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