Google is shutting down Stadia in September, will refund game purchases

Onitsuka also said game refunds will be completed by the middle of January 2024. Stadia Pro subscribers who received free games as part of their subscription won’t receive a refund. According to Google, nearly all games should continue to function normally until the system goes dark. Onituka said the shutdown impacts Stadia Pro, the free version, and Stadia Pro Trials.<br><br>From the article:<br>> It’s likely that a combination of factors led to this point, including high operating expenses and low user adoption. When it first launched in 2019, Google promised that Stadia would be a way for anyone with an Internet connection to play high-quality video games without the need to purchase expensive hardware. While it did deliver on that promise, it also lacked many of the features people have come to expect from dedicated gaming systems. The popularity of Microsoft’s xCloud and the general struggles faced by cloud gaming meant that Google was already an under dog in the gaming space.