[Update: Stadia trolls the source of the rumor] Google Does Google have its sights set on killing Stadia before the end of 2022?

It's no secret that Stadia isn't performing as well as Google might have hoped and that the search giant is exploring ways of of making it more successful by way of partnerships with third-parties such as with Verizon and its 1-Gig Fios product. Google had to deny plans to shut down Stadia in early 2021 when it shuttered Stadia's game studio and now it appears like the search giant may have to reassure subscribers once again that Stadia isn't being canned, as per the current unsubstantiated rumor.

Updated: Google Stadia has responded to the rumor with a tongue-in-cheek post on Twitter poking fun at the alleged source whilst also promoting Wavetale on the Pro tier that can be played at no additional cost until August 1st. It's a creative denial for sure, but it's levity implies that the alleged rumor should be classed as a joke and not a credible rumor. Which is perfectly understandable given that the rumor may as well have started off as ‘one time at band camp'.

The source of the rumor is a post on Facebook, which is akin to saying that my uncle's cousin's hairdresser's mechanic's son's online friend heard someone on the street say that something may or may not happen. In short, a truckload of salt should be taken with this rumor. But, it's a rumor that keeps on rearing its head, and it isn't helped by Google's reputation for killing products willy-nilly.

According to Killed-By-Google via GameRant, a post by a Facebook user claims to have a friend that is a regional manager for Google that attended a work function over the weekend where it was said that Stadia would be shut down ‘by the end of summer', although no specific date was mentioned. Possibly the worst part of this rumor is that Google will not be ‘transferring their services or servers', much like what happened when Google Play Music was shut down. This means that any purchases or game titles owned on Stadia would cease to exist if/when the service is terminated. It's obvious that the term ‘source' is doing a lot of work in this rumor.

The source goes on to say that Stadia subscribers will be informed '30-60 days' before the the service is terminated, and that Google would refund the last month of service, along with any outstanding subscriptions such as those that paid in advance.

Is the rumor accurate? At this point it's hard to say. For its part, Google Stadia has posted a couple of tweets denying that the gaming service will soon be canned – as per the image above and the tweet below.

Hot Take

Personally, I have more than a few doubts that Stadia will be terminated in the next 30-60 days. Whilst I believe that there is almost certainly an internal discussion going on regarding the future of Stadia, Google tends to give users much more notice when it shuts down a product, remember how long it took for Hangouts and Google Play Music to be finally killed off? Also, if Google does shutter Stadia, I believe that it will refund both outstanding subscriptions and title purchases if it's decided that there will be no transfer of licenses to another service. Google does kill off products prematurely, but it doesn't tend to screw its users over in the process.

Google shutting Stadia down is a rumor that will keep popping up if the search giant doesn't start showing that it's fully committed to the cloud gaming service. Quite how Google will do so is unclear, but closing down the gaming studio dedicated to Stadia was definitely not the way to do it. Also, knowing Google, perhaps it simply plans to rebrand Stadia given that it's had the same product name since its launch.

What are your thoughts on the future of Stadia?