[UPDATE: On its official Twitter page, Google Stadia has denied the rumors that it will be shutting down its services. Original story follows.]
Google Stadiahasn’t been as successful as the Internet super-giant wanted it to be. While the game streaming service did end up getting its foot in the door for a little while, it hasn’t been making waves since its release, and many have theorized that Google would end up scuttling the service entirely in the relatively near future.
This idea isn’t without precedent, either, as Google is known to shut down underperforming services in surprisingly short order, andGoogle Stadia, in particular, isn’t doing all that well in the grand scheme of things. The latest rumors suggest that the plans to shut down Stadia may be further along than some would think, with Google aiming to close it down before the end of 2022.
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Google Stadia was originally announced in 2019, and while it was presented as the next big thing for gaming, it barely made a splash in the end. According to Twitter account Killed by Google, which keeps track of all the services that Google closes down, it might not be long before Stadia’s time is up. It’s a “he said, she said” situation, to be fair, but according to the account holder’s sources, Google may shut down Stadia “by the end of summer.” The source also claims that there’d be no license transfer of any sort, which means that any purchases made on Stadia would effectively be nullified as the service closes down.
The obvious caveat to this rumor, of course, is that it’s unconfirmed and unverified. Even Killed by Google mentions that these claims aren’t necessarily true and that the source could very well be inaccurate. At the same time, ifGoogle is to license Stadia as Google Streamin the future, removing the consumer-facing service from its marketing push would probably be the sensible choice.
It’s also worth pointing out thatStadia was supposed to getThe Quarry, but the deal fell through when Google announced it was downsizing the service. With potential exclusives scattered in the wind and a possible pivot of the streaming platform toward enterprise-grade customers, Stadia’s future is very precarious indeed. If these particular rumors are true, however, Google is bound to make its announcements soon.
