RIP Stadia, we hardly knew ye

Laura Knotek

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I never heard of Stadia, but I only play PC games. It looks like it was an interesting program. Maybe it was the lack of marketing that doomed it. There probably are a lot of people who like mobile gaming but never knew Stadia existed.
 

L0n3N1nja

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I never heard of Stadia, but I only play PC games. It looks like it was an interesting program. Maybe it was the lack of marketing that doomed it. There probably are a lot of people who like mobile gaming but never knew Stadia existed.

I remember seeing articles on websites like this back when it was new but completely forgot it was a thing. Poor marketing will surely kill a product.
 

ak.yonathan

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Cloud gaming has definite disadvantages like really high latency that could very well be a deal breaker for serious gamers. (It could mean the difference between a good game and a rage quite.)

With that said I do think this is regrettable, not that the service was available here anyway. I guess I'll have to be satisfied with the Google search bar.
 

fuzzylumpkin

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I remember seeing articles on websites like this back when it was new but completely forgot it was a thing. Poor marketing will surely kill a product.

Poor marketing and a lack of faith.

There were a lot of people who didn't want to invest in stadia because they have no faith in Google's staying power. It's a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy really
 

L0n3N1nja

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Poor marketing and a lack of faith.

There were a lot of people who didn't want to invest in stadia because they have no faith in Google's staying power. It's a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy really

I have little faith in Google Products, I've been on Android for over a decade(Samsung since the S3) and if I had to choose between a Pixel and an iPhone I wouldn't hesitate to take the iPhone. Google ruins almost everything it touches and their apps are buggy trash compared to Samsung counterparts. Chrome is a garbage browser, YouTube Music is utter trash that repeatedly removes liked songs from my playlists, "Hey Google" randomly quits working and I need to retrain it to recognize my voice, Google Home regularly glitches and quits interacting with my smart devices. Chrome on the desktop is a resource hog and battery killer. About the only things Google does well in my opinion is their camera app and their search results.
 

fuzzylumpkin

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I have little faith in Google Products, I've been on Android for over a decade(Samsung since the S3) and if I had to choose between a Pixel and an iPhone I wouldn't hesitate to take the iPhone. Google ruins almost everything it touches and their apps are buggy trash compared to Samsung counterparts. Chrome is a garbage browser, YouTube Music is utter trash that repeatedly removes liked songs from my playlists, "Hey Google" randomly quits working and I need to retrain it to recognize my voice, Google Home regularly glitches and quits interacting with my smart devices. Chrome on the desktop is a resource hog and battery killer. About the only things Google does well in my opinion is their camera app and their search results.

Really? You still think they do search results well?
 

B. Diddy

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I have little faith in Google Products, I've been on Android for over a decade(Samsung since the S3) and if I had to choose between a Pixel and an iPhone I wouldn't hesitate to take the iPhone. Google ruins almost everything it touches and their apps are buggy trash compared to Samsung counterparts. Chrome is a garbage browser, YouTube Music is utter trash that repeatedly removes liked songs from my playlists, "Hey Google" randomly quits working and I need to retrain it to recognize my voice, Google Home regularly glitches and quits interacting with my smart devices. Chrome on the desktop is a resource hog and battery killer. About the only things Google does well in my opinion is their camera app and their search results.

Whoa, I can't say I've experienced any of that (which of course doesn't invalidate what you said). Chrome's never been an issue for me (at least on higher spec devices -- it can be a little slow on my Galaxy Tab A7 lite). I've found YT Music to be very good, and much prefer it over Spotify (the latter's interface is clunky, and their personalized mixes get very repetitive). I don't really use Hey Google much, but whenever I or any of my family has given a command, it works fine. And although I don't have a super-extensive smart home, I still have a Nest Thermostat, a few Chromecasts (Google TV and Audio), a pair of Home Maxes, and Nest Wi-fi, and they've all worked smoothly.

I wonder if the Google Assistant and Home issues might be a Samsung thing, what with all of the other Samsung stuff they preinstall?
 

Laura Knotek

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Whoa, I can't say I've experienced any of that (which of course doesn't invalidate what you said). Chrome's never been an issue for me (at least on higher spec devices -- it can be a little slow on my Galaxy Tab A7 lite). I've found YT Music to be very good, and much prefer it over Spotify (the latter's interface is clunky, and their personalized mixes get very repetitive). I don't really use Hey Google much, but whenever I or any of my family has given a command, it works fine. And although I don't have a super-extensive smart home, I still have a Nest Thermostat, a few Chromecasts (Google TV and Audio), a pair of Home Maxes, and Nest Wi-fi, and they've all worked smoothly.

I wonder if the Google Assistant and Home issues might be a Samsung thing, what with all of the other Samsung stuff they preinstall?

Do you use Chrome for Windows? I do, but it is a resource hog. I'm running a gaming PC, and look what Task Manager shows.
Screenshot 2022-09-30 205014.png
 

B. Diddy

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Do you use Chrome for Windows? I do, but it is a resource hog. I'm running a gaming PC, and look what Task Manager shows.
View attachment 348964

Oh yeah, I know it's a resource hog on Windows, but I almost never use Windows any more -- pretty much only Chrome OS (so as you can imagine, that pretty much is never an issue for me).

How does Edge compare to Chrome in terms of RAM usage?
 

Laura Knotek

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Oh yeah, I know it's a resource hog on Windows, but I almost never use Windows any more -- pretty much only Chrome OS (so as you can imagine, that pretty much is never an issue for me).

How does Edge compare to Chrome in terms of RAM usage?

I don't know. I never use Edge, but I do use Brave. Brave is not a resource hog.
 

B. Diddy

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I primarily use Edge when at work, since Chrome isn't officially sanctioned by the hospital (although at some point IT did finally relent and allow it to be installed). Edge does work quite well (since it's Chromium based), especially compared to the bad ol' days with IE.
 

Laura Knotek

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I primarily use Edge when at work, since Chrome isn't officially sanctioned by the hospital (although at some point IT did finally relent and allow it to be installed). Edge does work quite well (since it's Chromium based), especially compared to the bad ol' days with IE.

That's interesting. I glanced at my doctor's monitor and didn't even see the Edge icon on the taskbar. A window of Chrome was open, but it was obscured by a scheduling program on the screen.
 

J Dubbs

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Whoa, I can't say I've experienced any of that (which of course doesn't invalidate what you said). Chrome's never been an issue for me (at least on higher spec devices -- it can be a little slow on my Galaxy Tab A7 lite). I've found YT Music to be very good, and much prefer it over Spotify (the latter's interface is clunky, and their personalized mixes get very repetitive). I don't really use Hey Google much, but whenever I or any of my family has given a command, it works fine. And although I don't have a super-extensive smart home, I still have a Nest Thermostat, a few Chromecasts (Google TV and Audio), a pair of Home Maxes, and Nest Wi-fi, and they've all worked smoothly.

I wonder if the Google Assistant and Home issues might be a Samsung thing, what with all of the other Samsung stuff they preinstall?

I haven't tried Google Home on my Z Flip yet, partially because I don't think it's going to get a nice welcome on my Samsung device like you mentioned, and also because it just works so nice on my pixel 3XL that I'm going to keep using it there until I set up my P6Pro.

I do have to say though that the Google Assistant works great on my Flip, right alongside Bixby. It's nice having Bixby control the phone, and the Google Assistant do all the stuff I used it for on my pixels :p
 

Jeremy8000

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I bought into the Founder Edition when Stadia first launched. I entered into it with low expectations as my experience with Google has generally been that products launch rough and grow steadily better over time. This was the case with Stadia.

The selection of games never grew to compete - particularly with the latest 'hot' titles - with consoles, but a year in the performance was exceptional, if one has a fast low-latency connection and opted to use the Stadia controller connected directly to WiFi. If you're ultra-competitive for FPS style games, yes, you'd be at a tiny disadvantage, but my skill level isn't so elite that it translated that into a meaningful difference.

The fall of Stadia can be attributed to a few things, in my opinion:

  1. Lack of marketing. Google never really invested substantially into getting Stadia out there. I get it, as it's really hard to get people to buy into something that is, by its nature, nearly entirely intangible, especially in a world where they can go to nearly any Best Buy, GameStop, etc and trial console gaming. And the nature of Stadia, where there really isn't any (substantial) hardware to sell, essentially keeps them out of those brick-and-mortar locations.
  2. Nay-sayers. Yep, Stadia largely failed because everyone said it was going to, which kept many who might have been on the fence from making that jump. It was also inevitable that when it did fail, virtually every article would talk about how 'of course it would' even though it lasted years beyond when they initially insisted it would die.
  3. It should not have been launched as a Google product; rather, Google should have sought a partner established in the gaming industry. It seems likely they will white-label it in one form or another to keep it going; they should've done so at the start.
It's a sad demise, as the product (after a brief period to mature) worked tremendously well. It did operate as a vanguard into cloud gaming, bringing other parties in years before they would otherwise have invested the effort.

Make no bones about it - cloud gaming is the future, and will leave console and PC gaming relegated to a very small minority. One only has to look at what happened with home video to see the writing on the wall - look at Netflix, which started with mail-delivery of DVD movies for rental... Today, while the best video experience one can normally enjoy from home is via a 4k blu-ray, the qualitative difference it holds over properly streamed 4k content is negligible to the point that very, very few people would take it over the convenience and cost-effectiveness of streaming.

As to how Google handled it, I don't see how they could be reasonably asked to have been more considerate of the customers. Those who were strictly using the free service lost nothing. Those who had bought in, and even bought games, are getting a 100% refund of every cent those customers paid to Google for Stadia hardware and games (and it should be noted that Google is taking a direct loss on those game sales, as they are not only refunding their revenue, but the portion they had to pay to the development studios). The only thing we're not getting is a refund of our monthly service fees paid, but those months were fully delivered (and for those who had an active subscription at the announcement of the end, we'll get a few final months at no charge). That said, while we don't know the details of how they are managing the transition or termination of the relationship with the game development studios, it is hard for me to imagine that they aren't getting a pretty raw deal.

Honestly, I was surprised at the scope of the refund. In the end I'm left with having enjoyed a few years of gaming across close to 150 game (of which while most were, to me, hot garbage, many were tremendously entertaining) and a free Chromecast Ultra.

The only thing I do hope Google does now is to unlock the bluetooth on the Stadia controllers to make them remain functional rather than e-waste (and they would appear to have the ability to do that easily, per their original description of the nature of the controller).

Farewell, Stadia... You were the Betamax of cloud gaming.
 
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B. Diddy

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For any Stadia subscribers, don't be too alarmed if you see that you're still being charged the monthly fee. I got charged on 10/2/22, so I just chatted with Google customer service (who answered almost immediately!:confused:). The agent told me that the shutdown is a somewhat involved process, and any subscription charges after the official shutdown announcement (i.e., after 9/30/22) will ultimately be refunded in the coming weeks to months. You can always cancel if you don't want to deal with the hassle, but if you still want to play, then leave your subscription alone with the knowledge that you'll get the refund at some point.
 

Laura Knotek

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I bought into the Founder Edition when Stadia first launched. I entered into it with low expectations as my experience with Google has generally been that products launch rough and grow steadily better over time. This was the case with Stadia.

The selection of games never grew to compete - particularly with the latest 'hot' titles - with consoles, but a year in the performance was exceptional, if one has a fast low-latency connection and opted to use the Stadia controller connected directly to WiFi. If you're ultra-competitive for FPS style games, yes, you'd be at a tiny disadvantage, but my skill level isn't so elite that it translated that into a meaningful difference.

The fall of Stadia can be attributed to a few things, in my opinion:

  1. Lack of marketing. Google never really invested substantially into getting Stadia out there. I get it, as it's really hard to get people to buy into something that is, by its nature, nearly entirely intangible, especially in a world where they can go to nearly any Best Buy, GameStop, etc and trial console gaming. And the nature of Stadia, where there really isn't any (substantial) hardware to sell, essentially keeps them out of those brick-and-mortar locations.
  2. Nay-sayers. Yep, Stadia largely failed because everyone said it was going to, which kept many who might have been on the fence from making that jump. It was also inevitable that when it did fail, virtually every article would talk about how 'of course it would' even though it lasted years beyond when they initially insisted it would die.
  3. It should not have been launched as a Google product; rather, Google should have sought a partner established in the gaming industry. It seems likely they will white-label it in one form or another to keep it going; they should've done so at the start.
It's a sad demise, as the product (after a brief period to mature) worked tremendously well. It did operate as a vanguard into cloud gaming, bringing other parties in years before they would otherwise have invested the effort.

Make no bones about it - cloud gaming is the future, and will leave console and PC gaming relegated to a very small minority. One only has to look at what happened with home video to see the writing on the wall - look at Netflix, which started with mail-delivery of DVD movies for rental... Today, while the best video experience one can normally enjoy from home is via a 4k blu-ray, the qualitative difference it holds over properly streamed 4k content is negligible to the point that very, very few people would take it over the convenience and cost-effectiveness of streaming.

As to how Google handled it, I don't see how they could be reasonably asked to have been more considerate of the customers. Those who were strictly using the free service lost nothing. Those who had bought in, and even bought games, are getting a 100% refund of every cent those customers paid to Google for Stadia hardware and games (and it should be noted that Google is taking a direct loss on those game sales, as they are not only refunding their revenue, but the portion they had to pay to the development studios). The only thing we're not getting is a refund of our monthly service fees paid, but those months were fully delivered (and for those who had an active subscription at the announcement of the end, we'll get a few final months at no charge). That said, while we don't know the details of how they are managing the transition or termination of the relationship with the game development studios, it is hard for me to imagine that they aren't getting a pretty raw deal.

Honestly, I was surprised at the scope of the refund. In the end I'm left with having enjoyed a few years of gaming across close to 150 game (of which while most were, to me, hot garbage, many were tremendously entertaining) and a free Chromecast Ultra.

The only thing I do hope Google does now is to unlock the bluetooth on the Stadia controllers to make them remain functional rather than e-waste (and they would appear to have the ability to do that easily, per their original description of the nature of the controller).

Farewell, Stadia... You were the Betamax of cloud gaming.

You make some great points here.

Have you heard about Steam Deck? Could its release (with the upcoming Steam Deck docking station) be another reason why Google pulled the plug on Stadia?

I'm a PC gamer, so I haven't looked at which titles are compatible with Steam Deck, but apparently if one buys a game, it's available on Steam Deck as long as it's playable on Steam Deck as well as on PC.
 

B. Diddy

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You make some great points here.

Have you heard about Steam Deck? Could its release (with the upcoming Steam Deck docking station) be another reason why Google pulled the plug on Stadia?

I'm a PC gamer, so I haven't looked at which titles are compatible with Steam Deck, but apparently if one buys a game, it's available on Steam Deck as long as it's playable on Steam Deck as well as on PC.

Steam on Chrome OS is on the horizon, so that might have figured into it as well: https://www.androidauthority.com/how-to-install-steam-on-chromebook-1144719/
 

Laura Knotek

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Steam on Chrome OS is on the horizon, so that might have figured into it as well: https://www.androidauthority.com/how-to-install-steam-on-chromebook-1144719/

That's interesting, and I was not aware of that. I'm sure that is a huge consideration in the discontinuation of Stadia, since Steam is so popular. I get most of my PC games from Steam, and if people were able to play the same games on Chromebooks as they play on PC, then that would be extremely successful for Steam.
 

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