It's clear as day many will miss Stadia now that the game streaming service is officially entering the Google Graveyard. Whether you're a die-hard Dadia from Reddit or simply love the versatility of Google's game streaming service, there's no doubt those that were using the platform have some large shoes to fill today as the doors shutter. While I can't say Stadia ever worked all that great for me, thankfully, there are plenty of Stadia alternatives to choose from that may work better. Still, it's sad to see the passing of any gaming service, which is why I'd like to explore Stadia's major strokes from the last four-year run. So let's get all retrospective up in here and reminisce about Stadia to see it out the door properly.

Google had a brief window to launch Stadia to take advantage of perfect timing

Stadia started development as Project Stream, entering beta testing in 2018 with Assassin's Creed Odyssey. At the time, many came away impressed that the streaming tech worked so smoothly, but perhaps this perception was influenced by free copies of the game. Still, it was clear Google was eager to get the service out the door during a time of ridiculous GPU prices and a lull between console generations. Google had a brief window to launch Stadia to take advantage of perfect timing, so Stadia launched in November 2019. Sadly it was missing a bevy of features touted during the launch, such as 4K support on the web or a search tool in the store (not that there was a store at first, though search did arrive three years later). This was only the start of Google's problems.

After the service launched, there was a long period of silence from Google, prompting this Reddit post and plenty of follow-up blog posts deriding Google for disappearing for months, especially when everyone was still upset many of the touted launch features were still missing, unraveling that many games did not offer 4K 60FPS support. Sure, over the next few years Google added many of these missing features in an effort to bring the service up to speed with competing storefronts and services, which is commendable.

These good times continued into 2020, and at the height of the service's popularity saw a bunch of press once Cyberpunk 2077 launched

This is the point where Google displayed interest in growing its catalog with in-house games, which is why it purchased Typhoon Studios to make the lofty titles with huge living worlds it promised at launch. These good times continued into 2020, and at the height of the service's popularity saw a bunch of press once Cyberpunk 2077 launched. You see, the game was released in a poor state across platforms except one. The Stadia version of Cyberpunk 2077 actually worked better than the console versions at release, so many flocked to Stadia to play, especially since more than a few of us pre-ordered to score a free Stadia controller. Plus, things were ramping up for game releases, where Google actually delivered on its promise to launch 100 games in 2020. A similar goal was in place for 2021.

Stadia killed this year (3)

Once we hit 2021, Microsoft started making some pretty big studio purchases, from Bethesda to the yet-to-be-closed deal for Activision Blizzard, which clearly illustrated to Google games are big business, and so it would seem Google decided to pull back with Stadia, unable or unwilling to go toe-to-toe with Microsoft. This led to Google closing its new studio well before it would have been able to produce a single game, but it also chose to blindside those workers who were told they were doing good just a week earlier. At this point, it was clear Google wasn't in it for the long haul, so rumors started circulating about Stadia's impending death, considered baseless rumors at the time.

There's no doubt Stadia's road was long and arduous, no thanks to Google

Sadly those rumors came to fruition when Google announced Stadia's closure in Sept. 2022, set for January 18th, 2023. For many of us following Stadia, this didn't come as much of a shock, but it still made for incredibly sad news. There's no doubt Stadia's road was long and arduous, no thanks to Google, but at least the PR team was on point (hey Grace and Chris, y'all rock), and those who were too busy playing games probably didn't notice the industry noise surrounding Stadia, to begin with. This is ultimately why it's sad to see the service shut down; it's never fun to see an entire library of games go by-by, especially if that news blindsided you when you were too busy playing games.

Thankfully Google did the right thing to offer refunds to every single Stadia customer for their entire collection of games and peripherals, which should be just about wrapped up at this point. It's a move I can get behind, and it's a smart one on Google's part to keep its customers happy, and these moves keep on coming, as Google has finally released an update for existing Stadia controllers to unlock their Bluetooth capabilities. This way, everyone won't be stuck with a controller that only works over USB, thus cutting down on needless e-waste.

Stadia will assuredly be missed, even by me, a constant skeptic

Of course, if you dip into the Stadia subreddit, it's clear as day many users loved the service and are sad to see it go, and this includes me. While I can't say I ever saw stable Stadia streams on my local network, which is why I rarely used the platform for my personal gaming sessions, it was fun testing a plethora of games, to the point I leveled several characters in Marvel's Avengers just by testing where I could get the stablest streams, and on which devices. I certainly put in my time, and with some improvements to the tech, Stadia could have shined bright among the game-streaming crowd. Stadia will assuredly be missed, even by me, a constant skeptic. So pour one out; Stadia's last day is behinf us, and while Google didn't support the service as much as anyone would have liked to see, we'll always have Cyberpunk 2077's launch to remember fondly.

So thanks for the good times, Google, and more to the point; thanks for the refunds so we can all keep the good times rolling elsewhere!