Stadia fans – yes the dozens of you (we jest) –the time has sadly come. Google's games streaming service shuts down this day: January 18, 2023. While the platform may not have managed to capture that much of a player base, the service did manage to inspire enough affection that users are giving it a send-off.
From pictures of the iconic Stadia controller in little boots (see below), to heartfelt captions over images of the games Stadia users spent many hours in, there has been an outpouring of respect and fondness for Google's service. Many of them have been posted on the Stadia subreddit, or messages of thanks left on Stadia's Twitter page and other social media. "Started gaming again because of Stadia," wrote one. "Now I own a PS5 due to Stadia as well. Super sad day. But Google handled it better than I ever could have imagined."
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Developers have been saying their goodbyes too, including Q-Games which made Stadia exclusive PixelJunk Raiders. The Japanese studio posted some never-before-seen concept art for the roguelike on their Twitter page.
While Stadia could've done with more games and more discounts, it proved ahead of its time but it wasn't faultless. "Despite having a decent internet connection, at least by the standards of the bandwidth-starved United Kingdom, I simply couldn't play games on it in 4K," wrote our former Features Editor Andy Kelly when news of its imminent demise broke. However, it did have some advanced capabilities like the ability to jump into other people's screenshots and start playing. Now that's a cool feature.
While Stadia is in its last throes, Google even released a new game on it in its final days: a Snake-like title called Worm Gamer, which sparked a last rush to get the high score. Gamers will be gamers, and we salute the streaming service, which ran Cyberpunk 2077 surprisingly well, and made playable other triple-A experiences like Assassin's Creed Odyssey and Red Dead Redemption 2 without needing pricey hardware. You were adored by thousands, even if you had hoped for millions.