Google to shut down cloud gaming service Stadia

Less than three years after launching its cloud gaming service, Google Stadia is already done. The Search giant announced its foray into cloud gaming with Stadia on November 19, and in a blog post last night, it announced plans to shut it down. While Stadia never came to users in India, for the countries where it is available, the service will shut down from January 18th, 2023, Google said in a blog post.

Cloud gaming refers to platforms that allow users to play heavy games on comparatively simpler devices, by pushing the resource intensive processing tasks to the cloud, and streaming the game directly onto a screen. The technology is expected to allow console and PC class games on handheld devices and smartphones some day.

“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,” the post, written by Phil Harrison, Vice President and General Manager, Stadia, said.

That said, the company isn’t fully giving up on the technology platform behind Stadia. The post said that Google sees “clear opportunities” to apply the technology on platforms like YouTube, Google Play, and its augmented reality apps. It also plans to “make it available” to industry partners, presumably opening up a licensing business for the company.

“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,” the post said.

To be sure, Stadia’s shutdown won’t come as a surprise to the wider gaming community. Rumours of a possible shutdown have been abound for the better part of the year now, especially since Google closed the in-house gaming studio it had started for Stadia earlier. Reports from global gaming websites had also noted that rollout of new games on Stadia had slowed significantly.

Device maker Logitech’s G Cloud Gaming handheld, which was launched in global markets last week, also didn’t include support for Stadia. The device is specifically aimed at customers who want to use cloud gaming platforms.

Google isn’t the only firm that forayed into this space either. Microsoft, for instance, has been running the Xbox Cloud Gaming project, which has similar ambitions as Stadia. Chipmaker Nvidia also runs the GeForce Now service for cloud gaming. Stadia’s shutdown will raise questions about the efficacy of those platforms, though Microsoft and Nvidia have both been involved in the gaming industry for much longer than Google.

While neither of these firms have tried to bring cloud gaming services to India, telcos like Airtel and Vodafone have both pushed cloud gaming as an essential service post 5G rollouts in the country. Vodafone-Idea, for instance, launched what it claims is India’s first cloud gaming service, in partnership with Paris-based gaming firm V CareGame, just today.

Another French firm, called Blacknut, had partnered with Airtel to run a cloud gaming trial in India last year.

Stadia’s shutdown is sure to cast a shadow on these aspirations as well.