In September, we reported on the Google Stadia platform’s sudden shuttering. If you didn’t see the news, then, to put it simply, Google’s cloud-gaming platform needed to sustain a larger player base to justify its continuation. This resulted in quite a stir, as many players had purchased games and hardware for the platform. Later–Google announced they would be refunding all games across the platform. We’re happy to report that Stadia refunds will be available to most users on the platform starting now. Here’s what you need to know.
You May Have Already Been Notified of a Refund
According to the Google Stadia FAQ, Google began automatically processing refunds on November 9, 2022, which means there is a possibility that you’ve already been refunded for your purchases. According to Google,
“Starting November 9, 2022, Stadia will attempt to automatically process refunds for all purchases of games, add-on content and subscriptions fees other than Stadia Pro made through the Stadia Store. We ask for your patience as we work through each transaction and ask that you refrain from contacting Customer Support as they will not be able to expedite your refund during this time. We still expect the majority of refunds to be processed by January 18, 2023.“
How do Automatic Refunds Work?
According to the FAQ, Google will attempt to automatically refund purchases directly back to the original payment method used. If they can’t do this, they will send you an email.
Here are a few more things you should know:
- If you made 21 or fewer purchases on Stadia, you’ll receive an email notification for every purchase on the platform.
- Google will send you a 1 email summary if you’ve made over 21 purchases.
- If you deleted your Stadia account, Google will still attempt to refund your original payment method.
- Google will refund all hardware, including Stadia Controller, Founder’s Edition, Premiere Edition, and Play and Watch with Google TV packages.
- In-game currency purchases will be refunded.
The Stadia is officially set to shut down on January 18, 2023–and players will have access to their games until then.
This is a fairly sad way to see the Stadia shut down, but at least Google is doing its best job refunding all players for useless games and hardware purchased on the system. Now they’ve set a precedent; it may strangely attract new players to cloud-based gaming.
Luckily, other options exist, like the Amazon Luna and GeForce Now.
You can read the full Stadia announcement here.
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