If you have some how missed the news today, it is with a heavy heart I write the following words: Google Stadia is closing down.
I, like many of you I am sure, have spent the last couple of years defending Stadia, reassuring people that it isn’t closing down, and swatting away the click bait articles being released at a startling consistency. But today we aren’t denying rumours, today we have confirmation from Google themselves, the Stadia store is no longer active and as of January 18th 2023, the games will no longer be playable on the service.
What About The Games?
It may come as some comfort to you to know that the games and hardware you have purchased will be refunded. However, this does nothing to relieve the pain I’m feeling.
Stadia Has Been Life Changing.
I say that with every sincerity. Stadia changed my life. I found more time than ever to game thanks to the ease of accessibility. Few load times, no downloads or updates, being able to play on any screen. Stadia helped me game more than I have since my childhood.
But it’s more than the games. It the community. I am genuinely happy to have met a lot of the people I now call friends through this short lived gaming service. I found an outlet in my darkest hour on this very site. Writing the articles that I am grateful to you all for reading and sharing. Thank you for giving me your attention and your time.
I want to say a big thank you to the other people working on this site together and most importantly to Jack Deslippe and MM2K. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for this game changing opportunity. I am not a writer. This whole experience has been completely new and out of my comfort zone. But you gave me a chance with that first article that I wrote before knowing where it would end up. You published what I thought would have been a one off and then you welcomed me aboard. It has inspired me to pursuit changes in my career as I have really enjoyed doing this and hope it takes me to new places.
What Next?
Stadia’s closure will definitely leave a void in my gaming life. As much I would like to take it on the chin and move on to another platform, I can’t. As I have written in previous posts, Stadia is the only cloud gaming platform. Yes there are other services out there, other subscriptions, but no other that competes directly with what Stadia offers.
Of course there is always the option to go back to gaming locally, not in the clouds at all. But given how spoilt we have been as Cloud Gamers, going back to playing on a physical box, on the one screen, managing downloads and installs, just won’t be the same. I often play on my tablet as the kids watch their shows on the living room TV. Or on my phone as I frequent the doctors waiting room or wait in the car for the kids to finish school. Limiting myself to local gaming will definitely cut down the amount of time I spend playing.
A Final Note To The Haters…
No you were not right. People shout that the world is ending every day. One day that statement will be true. That doesn’t mean that everyone preaching the end is nigh, were right all along. Please, have a modicum of decency and respect. Remember people have dedicated a lot to Stadia. Beyond the gamers are the programmers. The people making the service possible. People built websites such as this, as well as YouTube channels dedicated to Stadia. Even the gaming and cloud gaming outlets not solely reporting Stadia have a large fan base that has developed due to their reporting on the platform. So before you scoff, laugh, and yell “I told you so!”, don’t. Be a decent person and just let it go.
Cheers!
So, sadness aside for a moment, thank you. Thank you to everyone for playing with me. To everyone who joined me on my livestreams. Thank you to the dedicated people out there bringing the news. Not just my fellow comrades on Stadia Dosage but also Stadia Source. And the video makers such as Rokk, Sunny and Clive. Thank you to the data makers, inlead, the people behind StadiaStats and Original Penguin.
Yes it’s a somber farewell to what has been a game changer for many, but put aside your sorrow for a moment to let us all know in the comments, what has been your favourite thing about stadia? Your favourite game, best thing about the service, your favourite creator, favourite event, or your best memory.
Looking forward to reading all your comments.
Thank you.
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Told you so. Maybe look for a job instead of writing awful articles
Told me so? You won’t even leave your name so how do I know you told me so? P.s. yes I have no money but I do have a full time job.
…but gamer dads told me Stadia is the future of gaming. So what happened? How’s this even possible?
My guy “I have no money but I do have a full time job” is probably not the epic comeback you thought it was.
My favorite Stadia memory is the community spending hours upon hours insisting that Stadia was the future of gaming and would revolutionize everything we know about gaming and would never shut down, and that everyone who thought otherwise were just haters instead of people capable of basic pattern recognition, and that being able to play Destiny 2 at the dentists office on their terrible WiFi was somehow the pinnacle of gaming.
Interesting how people who only hate the plattform even in the end still keep on reading articles about that plattform….
Apart from that, I feel you Pedder, I enjoyed playing on Stadia and will do so until the lights go out, I met great people on this short journey and hopefully will keep the contact and keep playing with them on another plattform over the time that will come
Thank you also Stadiadosage for starting events like Stadia1000 and the Community Championships and for holding the flag up for the Cloud, despite all the haters that mostly didn’t even tried it because “it was obvious, that it wouldn’t work”
Screw them tbh, if you never try something because it will obviously not work, we would still sit in dark caves without fire….
I’m so depressed about this and I think they’ll rip me off again like they did with Google music. I just hope they will put Bluetooth functionality into the controllers so we can at least use these.
Been a bad week. Broke my hand and arm, Hurricane, family member passed away, & my main escape is now gone.
I actually got interviewed for some reason by then. New York Times about it after writing an essay long comment on FB.
I appreciate all the work everyone did and this community. Also, the stadia people themselves didn’t know until 45 minutes before it was announced. Spoke to one who said they were busy getting the new home screens set up when they were notified. I got my premiere edition from Best Buy. It says for some reason only Google post purchases will be refunded…that seems unfair.Last night I bought all 3 Hitman games, and cyberpunk….this is a real bummer.
Sorry for typos, grammar, & punctuation. Broken hand makes typing a bit hard.
Thank you all for your hard work.
It isn’t supposed to be an epic comeback. Just correcting your wrongs. You assumed I don’t have a job when I do so.im just correcting you. I’m vocal a about the fact I have no money. I don’t care. I have expensive taste as well as 3 kids and a girlfriend I can’t say no too.
Wow, I feel your your gf and your kids man
Me too my friend. Me too.
Pedder… I’ve read your gaming use case and surely the Nintendo switch will easily fill that void and provide you an even better exeperience?
I think it’s probable that this in fact a massive Russian hacking attack targeting Google and orchestrated by Putin from inside the Kremlin personally. It wouldn’t surprise me if Google’s infrastructure has been compromised and the Russians simply put up fake news about Stadia shutting down to spread fear, uncertainty, and doubt in an attempt to destabilize western society. We should keep our guard up and wait for a public in person statement from the Google CEO.
stadia in recent times has been my favorite pastime, in truth it was not the community, great people, positive people, people who will go on and continue to smile and know how to have fun. with stadia it was love at first sight, too good to start a gaming session instantly from any TV in the house and even during the holidays away from home. I will miss all this, I hope I will not miss you, stadians. I hope to still have you close along the way.
Yes stadia is shutting down and you told us so. You were right congratulations ??. Do you feel better now?
I told you so
Stadia was amazing! I wil miss it a lot! Great article!