Google is shutting its cloud gaming service Stadia, it has announced. It has promised refunds by mid-January to players who purchased its Stadia controller as well as any games.
A message to anyone trying to use the service to buy a game said: "Stadia will wind down 18 January, 2023. The Stadia store is now closed." Stadia was announced in March 2019 with an aim to "free players from the limitations of traditional consoles and PCs".
Google said it would not be possible for players to take their progress in "the majority of games" to other platforms. It said all future pre-orders will be cancelled and users will not be charged; if they have already been charged they will receive a refund.
