Is Google Stadia on the brink of extinction?

Google’s game streaming service started in 2019 as a great savior and was supposed to give streaming a new lease on life. But relatively quickly, the service sank into a niche from which it could never fully crawl out again. Now rumors are even piling up that Google Stadia is on the verge of being shut down this summer. What’s the story?

Google Stadia: rumor speaks of the end

By the end of 2020, more than 130 games appeared for Google Stadia, but only two of them were exclusive productions. The big boom in game streaming that the service was supposed to help usher in failed to materialize. It wasn’t until March that Google had a rethink, opening up the service, moving further in the direction of white label and serving as a technical base for third-party offerings.

Now Stadia could be facing complete demise. A Facebook group is now claiming that the service will be shut down in the foreseeable future. The source was a person who was in close contact with a Google employee. However, the post has since been deleted again. The statement does not seem all that trustworthy or valid.

According to this, the Internet giant wants to proceed with Stadia in the same way as it “did with Google Music”. Customers are to be informed 30-60 days before the closure. A change of the customers on another platform is not planned.

Is the end coming or not after all?

Whether there is any truth to the rumors of Google Stadia’s demise is difficult to ascertain. Google itself answered via Twitter to a fan’s inquiry that Stadia would not be terminated.

“We’re still working to bring more great games to the platform and Stadia Pro,” the brief statement said. So the fact that Google would so easily clear the field on the lucrative gaming stage may be disputed. And yet, any rumors come up again and again.

Stadia has been a shadowy existence among subscription-based streaming services in the gaming sector for quite some time, even worldwide. It is therefore extremely unlikely that Google Stadia will be shut down in the near future. New features are to come gradually, including 1440p streaming, an “Explore” tab and motion controls, as 9to5Google reports.