The shutdown of Google’s Stadia

Google came out with its game streaming service, “Stadia,” about two and a half years ago, hoping it would change the gaming world and take the market by storm. However, recently, Google announced that the game streaming service will be shut down. Users will still have access to their games library until January 2023, after which it will be completely shut down. Google also announced that they would make sure to refund their users around that time as well.  

Google entered the market not knowing how competitive the gaming market is and that brands like Nvidia, Xbox, and many others have been leading the market for years. That is where most of the trouble began. Renowned brands connected to gaming know the user’s wants and needs. This is where Google got it wrong; they had no idea what they were releasing and did not understand what the people wanted. So, people did not trust Google at all with Stadia.

Why Stadia Failed

At first, the concept of remote gaming and having a streaming service to do that for you was fascinating, and Google did a great job of getting the framerates and gaming experience they advertised. At the time of its peak, Stadia was better than its competitors. However, it was destined to be a failure, as the games they were launching on the Stadia were pointless and outdated. Google could not cope with the growing and demanding gaming market at that time, and users would instead invest in a full-price version of a new game for their PS5 or PC rather than playing a pointless substandard game on the Stadia. Additionally, AAA title games like Call of Duty, Genshin Impact, and many more are readily available on mobile phones, so why would anyone ever invest in Stadia?

Stadia would have made an impact if it allowed you to play all the games across all the leading consoles for a small monthly fee. However, not only was the device expensive, but it had a monthly fee, and the games also had to be bought for full price. So you could say that it was doomed from the start. Sure, they had a unique selling point that it was a game streaming service, but that’s about it.