Google is shutting down Google Stadia and refunding everyone s money TechRadar Skip to main content TechRadar is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here's why you can trust us. Google is shutting down Google Stadia and refunding everyone s money By TechRadar Team Contributions from Hamish Hector last updated 29 September 2022 The cloud gaming service is going away (Image credit: Google) Audio player loading… Google has announced that it is shutting down its game streaming service Google Stadia on January 18th, 2023. For now, players will be able to access their Google Stadia game libraries, but come mid-January they'll lose access to those titles – though the Stadia controller should still work as a wired controller for non-Stadia PC games. Thankfully, in the official blog post (opens in new tab) about the shutdown Phil Harrison, Google's Vice President and General Manager of Stadia, said that Google will be "refunding all Stadia hardware purchases made through the Google Store, and all game and add-on content purchases made through the Stadia store." Google says it expects to have the "majority" of refunds completed by mid-January, and it has released a page on its help center (opens in new tab) answering questions about how Stadia will work in its final months, and some details about the refund process. Full details haven't been issued yet, but Google has said it will provide more information about how players can get refunds in the coming weeks. An expected shutdown Google Stadia had what could generously be called a rocky start in November 2019, launching in early access without many of the best features that had been promised in promotional material for the service. These included most of its social and multiplayer features like achievements, Crowd Play – which would allow viewers to play with streamers they're watching – and Family Sharing – which would let families share games. Yet despite these setbacks, Google promised that it would continue to work on Stadia and make it a gaming platform that players would love as much as their console. Even as recently as July 29, 2022, Google told fans in a tweet that "Stadia is not shutting down" saying that it would continue to work on the platform and bring great games to it. Stadia is not shutting down. Rest assured we're always working on bringing more great games to the platform and Stadia Pro. Let us know if you have other questions.July 29, 2022See more And over time Google did improve Stadia's features adding many of the ones missing at its launch. On top of that, it added a few platform-exclusive games and expanded the Stadia library with third-party titles too. But the improvements never quite went far enough to compete with its rivals in the game streaming space like Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and Nvidia GeForce Now. The first signs that Stadia was struggling came in February 2021 when Google shut down its in-house game development studios. The reasoning behind the move, according to Google (opens in new tab), was to free up resources that would allow the company to develop the Google Stadia platform itself. Now it looks like the whole platform is being shut down to free up resources for the rest of Google's projects. Stadia will apparently live on in some sense, though, with Phil Harrison saying in his blog post that the underlying technology behind Stadia has clear applications for YouTube, Google Play, and its expanding AR efforts. Exactly what form this technology will take is currently unclear, but we do know that it'll no longer be used to power Google's cloud gaming platform come January 18, 2023.I saved 85% on three years of Xbox Game Pass – here's how you can too TechRadar Team The TechRadar hive mind. The Megazord. The Voltron. When our powers combine, we become 'TECHRADAR TEAM'. You'll usually see this author name when the entire team has collaborated on a project or an article, whether that's a run-down ranking of our favorite Marvel films, or a round-up of all the coolest things we've collectively seen at annual tech shows like CES and MWC. We are one.With contributions fromHamish Hector See more Gaming news TechRadar Newsletter Sign up to get breaking news, reviews, opinion, analysis and more, plus the hottest tech deals! Thank you for signing up to TechRadar. You will receive a verification email shortly. There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again. 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