Google warned us back in September, but now the day had finally arrived: Google Stadia is shutting down.
Google Stadia
I have opinions… many opinions… about Google, how they run projects, how they went about this project, and the whole concept they were attempting to achieve with Stadia.
It is easy to say… and truthful… that this outcome was not a big surprise. We all love an “I told you so” moment. But that isn’t very helpful today. As with so many things, I am sure that Stadia was somebody’s favorite thing and its going dark is will leave a hole in their life and entertainment choices.
And for all the cuts on Google and how they do things, I will give them credit for giving people their money back. I mean sure, from one angle you can certainly say they are rich enough to shoulder than minor cost… minor relative to their overall earnings. And it probably saves them on some lawsuits. But it wouldn’t be hard to imagine it going differently, the company cutting the service off or jacking up the price or simply doing things to drive people away so they could shut it down without refunds.
So their Stadia shut down FAQ was a nice aspect of the whole thing, refunds and all.
And, more recently, they have announced that your Stadia controller will still be usable as a Bluetooth game pad.
The Stadia Controller
The conversion is a one-way trip to Bluetooth town, though I am not sure there is any reason for somebody to want to stay with its current configuration.
Also, the conversion to a Bluetooth controller will only be possible between now and December 31st, 2023.
Of course, there are always more questions. There is a whole FAQ about the controller in which Google admits they haven’t done a lot of testing as to what will support the Stadia controller as a Bluetooth device, landing on just these four rather vague entries:
- Windows 10 and 11 + Steam
- MacOS 13 + Steam
- ChromeOS
- Android
I mean, at least they tried their own stuff, and did try MacOS, but don’t ask them to get an iPhone. Still, Windows and Steam are a pretty big demographic. Then again, if you bought a Stadia you might be a console gamer… and no consoles on that list.
Anyway, so it goes. The service goes down today, another footnote in video game history.
The question now is, who is going to try this streamed gaming idea next? Netflix?
Related:
- Game Developer – It’s time to pour one out for Google Stadia
- Wccftech – Stadia Controller Gets Bluetooth Update On the Day Stadia Goes Offline
The Ancient Gaming Noob 