Stadia, Google’s ill-fated attempt at a cloud gaming service, will shut down in January. Players will be refunded for all their hardware and software purchases, except for Stadia Pro subscriptions. As it turns out, some folks will be able to keep playing certain games elsewhere. Ubisoft will help people who bought its titles on Stadia to transfer their purchases to PC.
“While Stadia will shut down on January 18th, 2023, we’re happy to share that we’re currently working to bring the games you own on Stadia to PC through Ubisoft Connect,” Ubisoft senior corporate communications manager Jessica Roache told The Verge. “We’ll have more to share regarding specific details as well as the impact for Ubisoft+ subscribers at a later date.” Google has already shut down the Stadia store, so if you were thinking of buying an Ubisoft game, getting a refund, then gaining access to the PC version for free, you’re out of luck.
Ubisoft hasn’t revealed when it will offer Stadia players access to their games on Ubisoft Connect. It also hasn’t confirmed whether Stadians will be able to transfer their save data over to PC. That said, the Ubisoft+ subscription service includes a cloud save feature, so hopefully the company can figure out a way to maintain players’ progress if they switch to a PC version.
While this is a nice gesture from Ubisoft, it might come as a small comfort to some of those who’ve been enjoying the likes of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Far Cry 6 and Rainbow Six Siege on Stadia. One of the big advantages of many cloud gaming services, including Stadia, is that they work on almost any computer, phone or tablet as long as you have a good internet connection. However, folks who don’t have a capable gaming PC might not be able to take advantage of this offer.
Ubisoft hasn’t been put off the idea of cloud gaming after the collapse of Stadia. Its Ubisoft+ channel is available on Amazon Luna, for one thing. “We believe in the power of streaming and cloud gaming and will continue to push the boundaries on bringing amazing experiences to our players, wherever they are,” Roache said.
While Google has abandoned Stadia, it will still license the solid game-streaming tech to other companies through an initiative called Immersive Stream for Games. AT&T and Capcom have utilized the white-label version of the tech. Perhaps Ubisoft, whose Assassin’s Creed Odyssey was used in the first public test of what would become Stadia, will be interested in taking Google up on the offer too.