Google announced on Thursday that it has closed the online gaming platform Stadia, which it launched in 2019, with great fanfare, but has never achieved the success the tech giant expected.

The US company explained in a post on its corporate blog that, despite its “solid technological foundation”, the project never attracted the expected number of users. This is the reason for the “hard decision” to start closing preparations.

Users will still be able to access the service until January of next year to complete their service. games. In addition, Google said it will refund all hardware purchases made through the Google Store, as well as game and content purchases made on Stadia.

Google will refund

The company said it expects most of these refunds to be completed by mid-January and will provide more details on the process soon.

Stadia’s appeal was based on its ability to stream games. Just like services like Spotify do with music or Netflix with television. This feature eliminated the need to download large files to consoles, physical discs, or computer games often needed.

Betting has been one of Google’s main moves in the video game industry. It is one of the fastest growing places in the tech industry and where almost all the giants of Silicon Valley are looking for their niche.

Dedicated to video games

Despite this shutdown, Google remains fully committed to video games, according to Stadia general manager Phil Harrison. It said it will continue to invest in “new tools, technologies and platforms” in this regard.

Meanwhile, he explained that the technology on which Stadia is based has proven to have uses beyond video gaming. He also pointed out that there are opportunities to use it in other places such as YouTube, Google Play or in the field of virtual reality.