Game over on Stadia. Shut down in early 2023

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Cloud gaming has come a long way in the last few years, but it’s more competitive than ever. We’ve even seen dedicated hardware from companies like Logitech as the dream of playing when and how you want has blossomed. Still, players have been slow to adopt cloud gaming as their primary method of gaming, which probably explains why Google’s latest statement about Stadia doesn’t seem all that surprising. Rumors of an imminent launch weren’t overly exaggerated.

Google is shutting down Stadia Players will be able to play online on January 18, 2023. The underlying technology will also be rolled out to other parts of the company, including YouTube, Google Play and AR, along with interested industry partners, according to Stadia’s vice president and general manager Phil Harrison. . Meanwhile, for consumers, along with games and his DLC, any hardware purchased directly from Google’s storefront will be refunded. The company FAQ page This answers some compelling questions Stadia fans might have, but clearly there’s a lot of confusion about what happens next.

First of all, Google isn’t sure if you can bring your game progress to another platform (such as Amazon Luna or GeForce Now), but they haven’t ruled it out. Most, if not games, don’t appear to be subject to transfer of any kind.

Almost every other section of the FAQ is, of course, about refunds. All Stadia hardware purchases (think controllers and special Chromecast packages) are refundable through the Google Store, regardless of when they were purchased. All Stadia players can get their game library refunded, so $60 spent on Borderlands 3, for example, will be back in your pocket. It also includes DLC and other add-ons, but specifically not Stadia Pro subscriptions. That money is gone if he interacts with Stadia, mostly through paid memberships. Still, according to Google, active Stadia Pro members will not be charged for access to the Pro Library during these last few months. Good news for the most hardcore crowd gaming fans among us.

Our FAQ covers most of the other questions gamers may have regarding refunds — what about gift cards, what if we lose access to that particular credit card, what about pre-orders? — but there are also many unanswered topics. While it’s great that Google plans to give credit to everyone who buys Stadia hardware (via its own storefront, anyway), players will still be able to enjoy these soon-to-be-borderline paperweights. So what are you going to do? These Chromecast Ultras can still operate as streaming devices, but Stadia’s controllers will only work wirelessly on the cloud platform. It supports Bluetooth, but you can’t actually pair with it, and it’s useless as a (non-wired) controller after January 18th.according to The company’s official support sitesupport for Bluetooth Classic can You can enable it at any time — it’s just a matter of when it actually happens.

Hopefully, these questions will be answered in the coming weeks as Stadia users adjust to the bleak future ahead of them. Stadia got a new desktop UI yesterdayAccording to r/Stadia’s community manager, it will be released to all users in the coming weeks. Consider it your final gift as Google’s cloud gaming platform heads to the grave.

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