Alphabet Inc.'s GOOGL, GOOG, is shutting down the Stadia cloud-streaming gaming service in mid-January and refunding all Stadia purchases made through the Google StoreGoogle Store and the Stadia store, the company said in a blog post Thursday.
Phil Harrison, Vice President and General Manager of Stadia, wrote in the post that Stadia's approach to streaming games for consumers was built on a strong technology foundation, but it hasn't gained the traction with users that we expected.
Harrison said that Google intends to give it to industry partners if it aligns with where the future of gaming will be headed by applying Stadia's technology to YouTube, Google Play and its augmented reality efforts. Stadia, which debuted in 2019, faced long odds from the start, despite initial optimism about its potential in the gaming industry. Google has a history of pulling the plug on projects just a few years after they launch and has few ties in the gaming industry.
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Last year, rumors spread that the service would shut down after the number of games released to the platform slowed and Google shuttered its in-house game development studios.
The death watch was intensified last week after Logitech International LOGI announced its new G Cloud Gaming Handheld and Stadia were not mentioned among the cloud-gaming services it supports.