Just two years of birth, the service of Cloud Gaming Google Stadia closes its doors. The news, which arrived last night, shook the world of video games, gamers, developers and employees of the sector. Google itself announced the news to the project managers shortly before disclosing it internationally.
Cloud gaming technology, which allows the use of a large number of video games without the need to buy a console or specific hardware, meets one of the many obstacles crossed since its birth. It seemed that with the years, Google had managed to bring cloud gaming into everyday life and in a certain and so, but not for Stadia.
Phil Harrison, vice president and general manager of Stadia, made the announcement: “A few years ago we launched a gaming service for consumers, Stadia. And while Stadia’s approach to streaming games for consumers was built on a solid technological foundation, it didn’t get the traction with the users we expected, so we made the difficult decision to start shutting down our Stadia streaming service. “.
But what will this drastic choice entail for the gaming world?
Goodbye Google Stadia
google stadia
With Google Stadia, years of pioneering technology are gone that have brought cloud gaming into vogue. Many services were born from Stadia such as, among others, the Cloud di Xbox, PlayStation Now, Amazon Luna e Nvidia GeForce Now. Services that allow, subject to monthly subscription (or quarterly / yearly, as appropriate). Having hundreds of video games available on virtually any device with a screen and an internet connection. In fact, the systems allow you to play the video games included in the various subscriptions simply by using a wireless controller and an internet connection.
As usual, Google threw itself into these intriguing opportunities by announcing to the world, the March 19, 2019, Google Stadia. Now, in January 2023, the service will cease to exist and no game can be played with the service anymore.
But why does Google Stadia shut down?
The cause
The cause of the end of Google Stadia is not one and those that exist are not certain. We can say that it is a mix of errors and fatalities that have characterized the service since its announcement. Among the errors, certainly the most obvious and the one that characterizes Google when it comes to innovative projects (bye-bye Google Glass!) Is the Communication.
As delicately stated in a video of ours from two years ago (which you can see above), very few gamers had actually understood what Google Stadia was. How to blame him. The information was fragmented and unclear and only after almost a year did the words “cloud gaming” begin to generate very clear images in our minds. Too late? Perhaps, at that point many other services were springing up in the wake of Stadia, learning from its mistakes and moving accordingly.
Among mistakes in question, another could be imputed to his infrastructure and in general the formulas offered to gamers. While Xbox included the cloud in its already rich Xbox Game Pass, Google Stadia offers… indeed, it offered a hundred games for € 9.99 a month, out of the subscription, however, we would have to pay every single game at full price. In an era where the formula “Down Netflix” is the host, Google has not been able to adapt and above all has not been able to properly expand its offers as its competitors have done.
Google Stadia closes: what awaits us?
stadia
The gaming world has now begun to wonder what could happen to the market with the closure of gaming. Here too we can only make assumptions but the situation is not so black. Cloud Gaming will go on with or without Google. The other services, mentioned a few paragraphs ago, will continue to do their duty and to perfecting the technology surrounding Cloud Gaming. Indeed, one less “competitor” could give new life to the initiatives of the other services that we are sure will not abandon such a promising technology anytime soon.
But unfortunately the inconveniences will not be lacking and the first to be affected are, as usual, the consumers. However, Google has assured that those who bought the Google Stadia controller or paid for the games on the platform will receive some refundsalready available mid-January 2023. Other sacrificial victims of this choice are the third party developers who have worked, until a few hours ago, to adapt their titles to work best on Stadia and who will remain, without warning, with a fistful of flies in hand.
The future?
Cloud gaming lovers, don’t despair! Cloud platforms will still have a lot to tell and this technology is far from over. Not by chance, Logitech has recently announced the arrival of the Logitech G Cloud, a new portable console entirely dedicated to Cloud Gaming!
If Google Stadia was your platform of choice, it’s simply time to look around and explore what other companies have to offer. You might even like it!