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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

Google will shut down [killedbygoogle.com] its Stadia [wikipedia.org] cloud game service on January 18, 2023. All Stadia hardware and software purchases made through Google will be refunded [arstechnica.com]:

Stadia's technology will live on as a Google Cloud product called "Immersive Stream for Games [arstechnica.com]." Google has made some headway pitching the feature as a way to run games on underpowered devices, like Peloton fitness equipment [arstechnica.com].

Google Stadia never lived up [arstechnica.com] to its initial promise. The service, which ran a game in the cloud and sent each individual frame of video down to your computer or phone, was pitched as a gaming platform that would benefit from Google's worldwide scale and streaming expertise. While it was a trailblazing service, competitors quickly popped up with better scale, better hardware, better relationships with developers, and better games. The service didn't take off immediately and reportedly undershot [arstechnica.com] Google's estimates by "hundreds of thousands" of users. Google then quickly defunded the division, involving the high-profile closure [arstechnica.com] of its in-house development studio before it could make a single game.

Competitors include Nvidia's GeForce Now, Xbox Cloud Gaming, and Amazon Luna.

See also: Stadia controllers could become e-waste unless Google issues Bluetooth update [arstechnica.com]
Stadia's technology will go on to do greater things, but no one really cares anymore [chromeunboxed.com]

Previously: Google Announces "Stadia" Streaming Game Service [soylentnews.org]
Google Details Pricing, Hardware for Stadia Streaming Game Service [soylentnews.org]

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