Stadia fans (yes, they do exist) are mourning the end of the streaming platform in the best way they know how: by competing to be the best at Stadia's final game.
Worm Game launched for Stadia on January 13 as the final entry in the platform's library. It's basically a multiplayer variant of Snake, the game you may remember from ancient Nokia phones where you control a serpentine creature that gradually gets longer as you eat bits of food collected around the screen. The Stadia devs used Worm Game to test the platform prior to launch, which makes this the first and only first-party Stadia game to actually see the light of day.
While the devs are quick to note that Worm Game probably "won’t win Game of the Year," some fans are disputing that, calling it "GOTY 2023" and asking "why is the worm game so good lol". Those posts may be a bit facetious, but there's a legitimate volume of love being shown to the game here in Stadia's final moments.
titanic_sinking_vibes_thanks_for_bluetooth from r/Stadia
Some players (via The Gamer) are competing on Worm Game's leaderboard for the ultimate bragging rights: owning the top score on Stadia's final game as the platform shuts down. The top score is at least 113,500 points now, though you can't actually see the top of the leaderboard unless you reach that position, making it difficult to tell where the top scorer sits without ranking highly yourself.
decided_that_i_had_to_take_1_before_going_to from r/Stadia
For now, here's hoping that the top players are serious about documenting their scores. This is important history, here. Stadia is shutting down tonight, January 18, at midnight Pacific time, so the window to achieve high score immortality is closing.
