Stadia will shut its doors for good on January 18th as the latest to join the Google graveyard
I’ll be honest; I never held out much hope Stadia would make it. I was one of the people from the very start extremely skeptical Google could actually commit to something as challenging as gaming. Perhaps my view was skewed by Google’s poor handling of the Play Store’s discovery problems over the last decade, or the company’s complete disregard for our purchased property when it silently removed many of our purchases during the great GDPR removal wave in 2018. To me, it was clear Google didn’t have the manpower or experience to take on the likes of Sony and Microsoft, and while it had developed worthwhile streaming technology, seeing that Stadia was/is one of the best-looking game streaming services out there, loose claims during Stadia’s launch about 4K and even 8K games seemingly followed the service around until it’s announced demise three years later.
Sure, some Stadia games hit the 4K threshold Google was so eager to bandy about during its announcement, but not enough, and certainly not enough of the few AAA titles. And it’s not like the pricing model was any help here, but at least Google has proven few gamers are keen to spend full price on games that can only be streamed. In the end, Google’s hubris bit it in the butt when the majority of AAA devs left Stadia in the dust, and this lack of games ultimately saw the user base dwindle until Google announced it was pulling the cord. Once again, Google half-assed one of its services into an early grave, and the graveyard is getting packed.
My primary issue with Stadia is that it rarely performed well on my network. Perhaps I’m a stickler that demands consistent performance, but it was rare any stream held stable enough not to drop frames. Even after plenty of troubleshooting on my end, replacing routers, and wasting time talking to my ISP, nothing helped to improve my streams so that framerates were held consistently. But seemingly, at no point was it Google’s fault it was selling an ephemeral service that had zero guarantees of acceptable performance. Suffice it to say, I was nonplused, and I doubt I’m the only one, as Stadia’s forums were filled with unanswered troubleshooting requests. The Stadia subreddit was no better, seemingly all troubleshooting posts were downvoted immediately, so very few broke through to the front page. Ultimately, this adds up to a very frustrating experience where nobody can or is willing to help. But I concede this was my experience, and I’m sure many others never had (or more likely never noticed) these issues.
While I can’t say I’m happy to see Stadia will soon enter the Google graveyard on January 18th, I’m not surprised. Google mishandled the service from the very start, making wild claims about features it didn’t have. Sure some were added after the fact, but in the end, Google needed to pony up much more money to get Stadia off the ground, and it wasn’t willing to do so, which was incredibly painful to watch unfold in slow motion over the last three years.
Thankfully Google made the right call to refund every single Stadia user, as I assume the backlash if it didn’t may have had a disastrous effect where those who invested in the platform wouldn’t trust the company again. Even though Google made the right move by giving us all back the money we wasted on its failed experiment, it’s hard to feel this comes from a good place of respecting consumers and more so comes out of fear of burning the last few bridges with its remaining userbase.
Yes, it will be a sad day to see Stadia shut its door this January as the tech itself was incredibly promising, but hopefully, this also closes the door on Google’s interest in gaming, as its half-measures and empty promises aren’t needed in a space that already struggles with too many anti-consumer abuses as it is. Let’s not forget how Google not once but twice blindsided its Stadia teams with surprise closure announcements. In no way, shape, or form is Google the good guy in this story. I say good riddance.
So as much as it might sting to say it, Stadia’s impending death may be a good thing in the larger scheme if the lessons learned keep Google out of gaming for good. Gaming takes commitment, and Google apparently has none, proven by the ever-growing graveyard. The good news is there are plenty of alternatives that are picking up the slack.
