Tag: app-subdomain-redirection:google-stadia

Last week, we reported on the Google Stadia shutdown. While nothing has changed on that front, and the tech giant is still shutting down its Stadia gaming platform, there might still be hope for the controller that Stadia consoles come with. 

Currently, you can still use your Stadia controller with other consoles, as you have been able to all along. However, the controller has Bluetooth usability limitations. This means that if you want to use your Stadia controller wirelessly, you can only do so with the Stadia console. However, given that the Stadia console is almost a relic of Google’s ill-fated foray into the gaming industry, even that won’t be possible for much longer. 

Since the announcement of the shutdown, Google has understandably been inundated with questions and desperate pleas from players who’ve logged considerable hours on their Stadia devices. The primary concern, other than ‘will I be able to port my progress to another platform,’ is whether the Stadia controller is going to now turn into little more than an adornment and a reminder of a failed attempt at reaching the success of Microsoft and Sony in the gaming industry. Google wants you to know that it’s heard your pleas and, to that end, has issued a statement in the form of an email reply to one such query. 

At least they’re aware of what we want from Stadia

‘We have received many requests about making the Stadia controller work on Bluetooth or other features that can make Stadia workable after the full shut down. I will send this feedback to our team so that they can check out and possibly release a firmware to make it work.’

Keep in mind that this is merely the feedback of one Google employee and by no means serves as a guarantee that Google will try and make the Stadia controller usable. However, it does give us the most minute slice of hope that we’ll be able to use Stadia controllers wirelessly with other platforms. 

This shutdown has understandably made a lot of people quite angry, and it would therefore be in Google’s best interests to try and turn this unlocked Stadia controller dream into a reality. 

If you spent loads of cash on the Stadia console, though, all is not lost. Google has announced that it will be issuing refunds for the consoles and games bought from Google’s marketplace. As we can see from the email, though, Google still hasn’t made instructions pertaining to the refunds public yet. However, if you fire off an email, you’ll likely be first on the list for instructions when they become available.  

If you’d like to read more about the context of the Google Stadia shutdown, we wrote about it last week. We’ll bring you any further developments as they happen.

Google has officially pulled the plug on its Stadia gaming platform. The tech giant says that it will refund all Stadia hardware purchases that were made through the store, though, so if you invested in one, you’ve got a small payday coming. 

Google Stadia seems to have been in decline for quite a while. But even, in the beginning, the platform didn’t really present much to write home about. The platform launched in 2019 to mixed reviews. However, the main concerns weren’t to do with the competitors, as many suspected would be the case. Rather, Google itself was at fault for promising more features in early teasers and concepts than it initially delivered.

Features such as Crowd Play and Family Sharing were highly-anticipated because of the capabilities they’d give players. Crowd Play would have enabled players to play with their favorite streamers during a live stream, and Family Sharing essentially would have let families share their games. However, at launch, both features, and countless others, were missing from the Stadia ecosystem. 

Since then, the platform has grown, but not enough or fast enough to present other more successful platforms with any true competition. While the shutdown was expected by some, Google has routinely denied rumors of the gaming platform meeting its end – as recently as July 2022. Google did, however, shut down its in-house gaming studios in a move that the company described as ‘allowing the company to develop the Google Stadia platform further.’ Google seems to now be using Stadia to ‘free up resources’ once again. 

If you’re at all worried that you’ll lose access to your Stadia catalog or that your controllers will now be useless, don’t be. Google has said that: it will be ‘refunding all Stadia hardware purchases made through the Google Store, and all game and add-on content purchases made through the Stadia store.’ Google also says the controllers will remain usable with other platforms. Google says that it will provide users with more information on how they can put refunds into motion within the coming weeks.

This news, of course, goes directly against one of our previously published articles where we argued the point that Google Stadia was here to stay. Sadly, we were wrong, but it might be fun to read the article and laugh about how wrong we were.