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Service will officially conclude this coming January.

Back in 2019, Google’s gaming division launched the Google Stadia, a cloud gaming service that could run on phones and PCs. The idea behind the Stadia was that players could play high-impact games over an internet connection, even if they didn’t have a powerful PC or game console. Sadly, after only three years of service, Stadia simply hasn’t managed to find a sustainable audience, which is why Google is finally putting it out of its misery.

In a post on the official Google blog, Phil Harrison, Stadia’s Vice President and General Manager, announced that the service will be shutting down on January 18, 2023.

“A few years ago, we also launched a consumer gaming service, Stadia. And while Stadia’s approach to streaming games for consumers was built on a strong technology foundation, it hasn’t gained the traction with users that we expected so we’ve made the difficult decision to begin winding down our Stadia streaming service.”

“For the Stadia team, building and supporting Stadia from the ground up has been fueled by the same passion for games that our players have. Many of the Stadia team members will be carrying this work forward in other parts of the company. We’re so grateful for the groundbreaking work of the team and we look forward to continuing to have an impact across gaming and other industries using the foundational Stadia streaming technology.”

Stadia players, find an important update on Stadia here: https://t.co/IIFRYiIYUu

— Stadia ☁️🎮 (@GoogleStadia) September 29, 2022

Harrison also made the surprising announcement that Google will be refunding any Stadia users for their Stadia controllers and purchased games should they request it. This came as a shock to many game developers whose games are available on Stadia, who said that this announcement was the first they were hearing of it. Google has not clarified the extent to which these refunds will financially impact the developers.