Google Stadia fans begin mourning ahead of the service shutting down next week

Google Stadia will turn off its servers on January 18, and the news has got fans looking back on their time with the cloud-based gaming service.

As reported by The Verge, Google Stadia will officially shut down on January 18, 2023 at 11:59PM PT / 02:59AM ET (Jan 19) / 07:59AM GMT (Jan 19). For some, this day has been in the back of their minds ever since it was announced back in September 2022. For others, they're surprised the service has even been running that long at all.

Now that Stadia's shutdown has become that little bit more real, several of the service's subscribers have taken to Twitter to pay their respects. One YouTuber shared that Google Stadia allowed them to make 500 videos: "Thank you @GoogleStadia," the tweet reads, "500 videos created, and this chapter of content is coming to an end. While it wasn't for everyone, I loved playing on Stadia." Another simply said: "I got a pop-up on my TV that said 'we sadly report that the Google Stadia app is no longer supported' and it killed me."

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Thank you @GoogleStadia. 500 videos created, and this chapter of content is coming to an end. While it wasn't for everyone, I loved playing on Stadia. Thank you to everyone who made this platform a reality, and to those who championed for the Stadia community behind the scenes. pic.twitter.com/b5rqXWg9WnJanuary 6, 2023

Google Stadia finally closing its doors will leave its subscribers with no access to the service's games or player's save files. Thankfully, several developers have made it possible to transfer save files onto the PC version of the game. This means if you played games like Cyberpunk 2077, Destiny 2, Hitman 3, and a few others, you'll be able to carry on where you left off on PC. Which is excellent news for the Red Dead Redemption 2 fan with nearly 6,000 hours on Stadia.

As for the Google Stadia exclusive titles, some of the developers behind the likes of Gylt or Hello Engineer have revealed that they have plans to relaunch the games on other platforms soon. Some didn't quite make the transition though, like Splash Damage's Outcasters which will cease to exist along with Stadia.

Unsure exactly what the closure means? Take a look at our Stadia shutting down explained guide.

After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at GamesRadar+ before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training. My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I'm also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.