Support NeoGAF

[Draugoth]

Google Stadia is Not Shutting Down [UPDATE]

Google Stadia denies the recent claims online that it would be shutting down its services by the end of the summer, promising more games to come.

gamerant.com

Google Stadia was originally announced in 2019, and while it was presented as the next big thing for gaming, it barely made a splash in the end. According to Twitter account Killed by Google, which keeps track of all the services that Google closes down, it might not be long before Stadia's time is up. It's a "he said, she said" situation, to be fair, but according to the account holder's sources, Google may shut down Stadia "by the end of summer." The source also claims that there'd be no license transfer of any sort, which means that any purchases made on Stadia would effectively be nullified as the service closes down.

Killed by Google's source compared this plan to what Google's done with its Play Music service. All subscribers would be informed 30 to 60 days ahead of Stadia's closure, and the final month of service would be refunded as-is, with no additional charges. Recently, it's been revealed that Google may salvage Stadia by changing it to Google Stream, an enterprise-oriented service. This may still be the plan, as it's unlikely that Google would simply discard the technology that went into keeping Stadia running.

 

[amigastar]

it has not even lived properly

 

[Sentenza]

NO! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT??
Who saw that coming, I wonder.

 

[Pelta88]

 

[STARSBarry]

If so it lasted longer than expected

https://www.neogaf.com/threads/when-will-google-shut-down-stadia.1511929/

Will need to see how it works out (I voted 6 months at the time)

 

[Sentenza]

I'm still glad Stadia existed, since they gave a bucketload of money to Larian to make Baldur's Gate 3.

 

[MiguelItUp]

Honestly surprised it hadn't shut down earlier. I felt like it was barely holding on for a year+.

 

[RoadHazard]

But you purchase games there right? Pretty sure it won't fly in the EU to just remove people's access to those games without full refunds.

 

[jorgejjvr]

crazy, guess i wasted money on my stadia controller

 

[Sentenza]

Honestly surprised it hadn't shut down earlier. I felt like it was barely holding on for a year+.

It was always amusing to cross the occasional Stadia "true believer" trying to evangelize how cool it was not having to buy hardware (and ignoring all the other downsides, including a not negligible ongoing cost for subscription).

 

[DGrayson]

Bring back Chromecast Audio

 

[Arenafighter]

Stadia what

 

[wvnative]

 

[ResilientBanana]

Shocking

 

[Topher]

"The obvious caveat to this rumor, of course, is that it's unconfirmed and unverified. Even Killed by Google mentions that these claims aren't necessarily true and that the source could very well be inaccurate. "

 

[MiguelItUp]

It was always amusing to cross the occasional Stadia "true believer" trying to evangelize how cool it was not having to buy hardware (and ignoring all the other downsides, including a not negligible ongoing cost for subscription).

I believe it, I hadn't seen many of those though, haha. I feel bad for those folks because, yeah, while the tech was cool, especially at the time, the subscription stuff and then some was just so unappealing.

 

[Fuz]

 

[Johnny Concrete]

But you purchase games there right? Pretty sure it won't fly in the EU to just remove people's access to those games without full refunds.

They probably put it somewhere in a pages long document that I just clicked ‘Agreed’ on and didn’t read at all that they can shut down whenever they want and give me nothing but a middle finger as compensation.

 

[tommib]

Was it ever (a)live? Google is absolutely dreadful with paid services.

They should’ve done a version with ads - that’s more their thing.

 

[RoadHazard]

They probably put it somewhere in a pages long document that I just clicked ‘Agreed’ on and didn’t read at all that they can shut down whenever they want and give me nothing but a middle finger as compensation.

Doesn't work that way in the EU at least, you can't "sell" your legal rights by clicking OK in a user agreement.

 

[Saber]

This thing could be already closed and nobody would care or know.

 

[Bridges]

Stadia died the moment they shut down their internal studios, they've been on borrowed time since then.

There was a lot of potential there, but selfishly I am glad it won't be sticking around. Google needs to keep their hands out of this business. As far as I'm concerned the pros never outweighed the cons when your options consisted almost entirely of games you could get on any other non-streaming platform.

 

[Warnen]

Another failed google tangent.. the shock…

 

[Topher]

Sucks for the people who bought games there and won't get their money back.

 

[Thief1987]

But i want to see negative delay in action

 

[Lupin3]

 

[Bernd Lauert]

Just further proves that their business model is terrible. Imagine buying games on Stadia when there's always a very real possibility of it shutting down.

 

[Hey Blinkin]

They cursed themselves when they were showing off all the failed consoles before it.

It was a neat idea though.

 

[SmokedMeat]

What? No way!

 

[jaysius]

Failure to launch.

 

[It's all in the wrist]

Worst deal in gaming.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

There's that webpage or chart somewhere about a Google Graveyard and how many products/services they've made which tanked. For every Gmail or Google Search, they probably bombed 3x as many things many people have never heard of.

 

[Deerock71]

 

[Gamezone]

Their streaming technology was pretty good. I wonder what will happened to games people purchased?

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

The exclusive game of Stadia will die too?

 

[sainraja]

But you purchase games there right? Pretty sure it won't fly in the EU to just remove people's access to those games without full refunds.

Google may do things differently this time...but they have usually been pretty good about refunding money for services they shutdown. They use to have a Group On like website where I was refunded the cost of my coupon regardless of having used it (and I had used it). I got my full amount back so I am hopeful that they will do the right thing.

 

[Fredrik]

"The obvious caveat to this rumor, of course, is that it's unconfirmed and unverified. Even Killed by Google mentions that these claims aren't necessarily true and that the source could very well be inaccurate. "

What happens to the purchased games?

 

[Hari Seldon]

Oh I forgot that for some reason on stadia you had to purchase games instead of doing a gamepass type deal. That sucks for the people who got bamboozled, but man it is not like everyone didn't see this coming lmao. Maybe if it was a rental service like gamepass it would have held out longer.

 

[lovetalkgames]

Rip bozo

 

[Gamerguy84]

V Voost Kain will be on suicide watch.

Hopefully no one is too impacted I know we have a fee Brazilians that found good value with it.

Just please google do not shut down YTTV. It's the best cable TV I've had or tried.

 

[Kenneth Haight]

 

[Kilau]

Didn’t they just expand to Mexico a few weeks ago?

 

[Desless1]

The more interesting question is rather where will the users go? GeForce Now? PS Now? Gamepass and Cloud?

If this rumor is true.

 

[Thabass]

Who could have predicted that?

 

[RaZoR No1]

 

[Deerock71]

Their streaming technology was pretty good. I wonder what will happened to games people purchased?

 

[Topher]

What happens to the purchased games?

Apparently you lose them.

 

[Holammer]

If they built a console out of the stuff they put on the racks, I think they would have had a better shot at entering the market.
Especially if it was open like the Steam Deck.

The more interesting question is rather where will the users go? GeForce Now? PS Now? Gamepass and Cloud?

If this rumor is true.

If it's true, those services can be complete shit shows too.

 

[SoggyBiscuit]

Fat Frog tell us if you're okay

 

[Topher]

The more interesting question is rather where will the users go? GeForce Now? PS Now? Gamepass and Cloud?

If this rumor is true.

GeForce Now and xCloud are better options in every way, imo. GFN simply gives you games you already own on Steam and others stores. You are literally just renting out a PC in the cloud. Since xCloud is streaming access to Game Pass games there is a lot less risk then Stadia as well.

Last time I tried PS Now it was horrible so can't comment much other than that.