Red Dead Online player bids farewell to Google Stadia save by releasing horse they named after their departed daughter

Red Dead Redemption 2
(Image credit: Rockstar)

Red Dead Online players are waving a sad farewell to Google Stadia after three years on the platform.

Google Stadia's final day of life came yesterday on January 18, with online services for the streaming platform now having being taken offline for good. As such, dedicated Red Dead Online players on the streaming platform have been bidding a teary farewell to their characters, horses, and accomplishments on the platform.

No better example of that comes from the Google Stadia-dedicated subreddit post just below. The player in question named their horse Celeste after their sadly departed daughter, and the video shows them giving their horse one final pat and brush, before sending it on its way into the wilderness for the final time.

Elsewhere on the Google Stadia subreddit, players are signing off from their devices for the final time. There's countless posts of players taking photos of their Stadia setups, bidding the streaming platform farewell, and thanking it for all the memories along the way.

Some players are also posting how they managed to finish certain games just in time before the shutdown. One player managed to complete Cyberpunk 2077 just before the curtain call, for example, while another bested the excellent Superhot before the axe fell on Stadia.

It's easy to look at Google Stadia as a failure, having ultimately shut down after just three years of life. Today's posts on the Google Stadia subreddit, though, show there's always more life than meets the eye for services that are shelved by a corporation. 

Check out our new games 2023 guide for a look forward at the year ahead for gaming. 

Hirun Cryer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.