Stadia is Dead September 29, 2022

This official statement has just been posted on the official Google Blog. They are ending Stadia support in January 2023. Google says they will refund all hardware purchases made through the Google Store.

I have to admit, this is disappointing but hardly unsurprising news. In my opinion, a streaming game service will only be a good consumer option if sold exclusively on a subscription basis. That way, in the event the service ceases, the user will simply stop being charged their monthly subscription fee. Stadia sold entire games at full retail price through their service. That means those full priced games can no longer function in any way once Stadia is shut down. Meanwhile, anyone who bought a copy of the same game at the same price on a different platform or online service will still be able to play. This is the fear most users had when Google announced Stadia. Their fears were clearly merited.

As someone who was an initial adopter of Stadia, I’m assuming the Google Chromecast Ultra I got with my package will still continue to function. I’m also assuming the Stadia controller will continue to function as a PC gaming controller if connected over its USB cable.