Google Stadia refunds for hardware begins, to be issued within ‘two weeks’

Google has started issuing refunds for customers who purchased hardware for its discontinued game streaming service, Stadia. The company started issuing refunds for those who paid for passes and other software additions from November 8, and now, reports state that customers who purchased controllers for Stadia are now receiving refunds towards the same.

Google has not issued a statement on the matter. However, reports claim that Google’s email to its Stadia clients have stated that the refund process should be completed within two weeks — within which ‘most’ users will be refunded in lieu of the service shutting down. Stadia, which launched to much hype in 2019, announced that it would be shutting shop on January 18, 2023 — and now, according to reported customer emails, all software and hardware refunds will be completed by then.

While the move was expected for a while among industry experts, Google’s official announcement on the matter came on September 29. In a blog post on the matter, Phil Harrison, vice-president and general manager of Stadia, said, “A few years ago, we 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.”

Interestingly, the India Mobile Congress that shortly followed Stadia’s announcement saw most telcos in the country announce a range of 5G connectivity-backed cloud streaming service for mobile gaming. The announcements were in contrast with Google’s statement of the service not having gathered enough interest among users.

Industry stakeholders told Mint at the time that cloud-based game streaming services would remain niche. Justin Shriram Keeling, founding general partner at venture capital firm Lumikai, said that even with falling data cost, failure to establish a similarly inexpensive cost of the service itself could be one of the biggest roadblocks towards adoption of cloud streaming.

Google’s decision to shut down the loss-making unit also preceded a layoff phase for Big Tech — the biggest of its kind in recent years. Companies such as Amazon have announced pulling back on cost-intensive products such as Alexa, amid thousands of employees being laid off.