I know I have been using a lot of EOL or End Of Life, which is a term officially used when a product or service will not be offered anymore. And I never imagined that Google surprisingly went to the EOL-ing Stadia just out of nowhere.

And yes this news might feel like a little editorial feel so therefore I mark this as a Staff Article, because there are some things I want to actually say outside news perspective but keeping objective.

First, what went official but OUTTANOWHERE!!!

“For many years, Google has invested across multiple aspects of the gaming industry. We help developers build and distribute gaming apps on Google Play and Google Play Games. Gaming creators are reaching audiences around the world on YouTube through videos, live streaming and Shorts. And our cloud streaming technology delivers immersive gameplay at massive scale.

A few years ago, we also launched a consumer gaming service, Stadia. And while Stadia's approach to streaming games for consumers was built on a strong technology foundation, it hasn't gained the traction with users that we expected so we’ve made the difficult decision to begin winding down our Stadia streaming service.

We’re grateful to the dedicated Stadia players that have been with us from the start. We 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. Players will continue to have access to their games library and play through January 18, 2023 so they can complete final play sessions. We expect to have the majority of refunds completed by mid-January, 2023. We have more details for players on this process on our Help Center.

The underlying technology platform that powers Stadia has been proven at scale and transcends gaming. We see clear opportunities to apply this technology across other parts of Google like YouTube, Google Play, and our Augmented Reality (AR) efforts — as well as make it available to our industry partners, which aligns with where we see the future of gaming headed. We remain deeply committed to gaming, and we will continue to invest in new tools, technologies and platforms that power the success of developers, industry partners, cloud customers and creators.

For the Stadia team, building and supporting Stadia from the ground up has been fueled by the same passion for games that our players have. Many of the Stadia team members will be carrying this work forward in other parts of the company. We’re so grateful for the groundbreaking work of the team and we look forward to continuing to have an impact across gaming and other industries using the foundational Stadia streaming technology.”

With this, Phil Harrison, a notorious gaming executive responsible for the rocky launch of Playstation 3, leading Infrogames and Atari needed bankruptcy protection, Gaikai running out of the momentum and forcing a sale to Playstation (to form PS Now along with OnLive) and finally, the rocky Xbox One launch, announced yet another BOLD thing on his resume.

I wish I was making this up and not antagonizing Mr. Harrison, but unfortunately I am not and indeed, Mr. Harrison needs to step away from ANYTHING of the gaming industry for the sake of it and should not be allowed control or manage any new project, if your CEO is not corporate-suicidal that is.

Today in particular have been a constant seeing in social media those true gaming fans and Stadia user lamenting that while it is a FACT that tech speaking, Stadia was superior than Xbox Game Pass Cloud, Luna and GeForce Now and that was enough to attract studios and company to leave the convenient “fear” of programming in Linux and also, the toxic and bad side of gaming industry in general.

One thing remains true regardless of Stadia being a big third company that tried, and it is that Cloud Gaming will be a new medium whether you like it or not.

For myself I am NOT ashamed to be Stadia Pro subscriber for day 1 and even that, invested in the game because I NEVER TRULY HAD PROBLEM with the exception that Stadia did have a delicacy with latency, and some days, the warnings were ignorable!

With that being said, Google confirmed that EVERYONE who invested directly on Stadia and that includes Stadia Controllers after launch, Founder’s Edition direct purchase on Stadia Store will be refunded and details will be given soon with a form on how you would like your investment being refunded.

Unfortunately, the refund does not cover Stadia Controller bought on Best Buy and the pop-up stores of Google in New York and neither the Stadia Pro subscription.

I may get why Stadia Pro subscription is not refundable in a company standpoint, Google need to ease the bleeding and have some return of Stadia, but I do fail to see why some friends that to my knowledge did bought their second controller in a local Best Buy not having the same opportunity, well, maybe Google failed on making a good bargain with them in that case.

Without much to say, Google confirmed that current active subscribers will not be charged anymore and will continue to have access to your games library until the end.

So long Stadia, you were misunderstood within the gaming community’s toxicity and mismanaged from day 1!