Google’s cloud gaming platform, Stadia, will no longer work from 19 January 2023.
You have until then to play all of the games in your Stadia library, but what about the many dollars, euros or pounds you plunged into the service over the last two years? What happens to the games you paid full price for?
We’ll Google will be refunding all Stadia hardware and game purchases made on the Google Store. Here’s how it’ll work and when you can expect your money back.
What is Google refunding?
All games bought on the Google (Stadia) Store will be refunded. As will in-game purchases (DLC).
Google will also refund hardware bought through Google directly – the Stadia Controller, Stadia Founder’s Edition, Stadia Premiere Edition, and Play and Watch with Google TV Package.
Google is not refunding historical Stadia Pro membership fees. You will not receive back any monthly fees you have paid to date. However, you will be able to play all games earned through Pro membership up to and including 18 January 2023, even though no more fees will be taken from 29 September 2022.
How to claim your Google Stadia refund
The good news is that you likely won’t have to do anything to claim a Stadia refund. Google will, in most cases, automatically refund eligible hardware and game purchases straight into the account originally used.
If that is not possible, it will send an email to the Stadia account holder with further details on how to process the refund.
The majority of refunds are expected to have been processed by mid-January 2023.
Other things to consider
As well as get your money back, you might also consider downloading your Stadia data.
It includes profile information, game stats, social data, save files and captures, and will be available on Google Takeout until the end of play 18 January 2023.
You might also want to delete Stadia from your Google account at some point. You can find out how to do that here.