Google has just released the last ever game for the Stadia platform, ahead of its shutdown tomorrow (January 18).
After much speculation, Google confirmed that the Stadia would be shutting down last September, with the cloud gaming service set to shut up shop tomorrow.
Ahead of the shutdown though, Google has released one last game on the Stadia, Worm Game. An internally developed version of Snake, Worm Game is a solo and multiplayer title that was used to “test many of Stadia’s features, starting well before our 2019 public launch, right through 2022”.
“Play the game that came to Stadia before Stadia came to the world,” reads the description. “Worm Game is a humble title. It won’t win Game of the Year, but the Stadia team spent a LOT of time playing it, and we thought we’d share it with you.”
“Thanks for playing, and for everything.”
You might have seen one last game arrive on Stadia today. It’s a humble 🧡 thanks 💜 for playing from our team.
Find it here: https://t.co/PyAUH181v1
— Stadia ☁️🎮 (@GoogleStadia) January 13, 2023
After announcing the shutdown, Google confirmed that players would receive refunds for any titles they’d bought via the Stadia store.
Google Stadia originally launched in November 2019 but spent most of 2022 denying rumours that it was set to close, fuelled by Google closing its internal development studio in February.
“A few years ago, we also launched a consumer gaming service. 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 the streaming service,” said a statement from the company announcing the shutdown.
“We remain deeply committed to gaming, and we will continue to invest in new tools, technologies and platforms that power the success of developers, industry partners, cloud customers and creators,” added Google.
Following the news of Stadia’s demise, it was confirmed save data for the likes of Red Dead Redemption 2 and Cyberpunk 2077 could be transferred to another platform.
In other news, the team behind Skyblivion, a fan-made mod that aims to remake The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion in Skyrim, has announced that it will be launching in 2025 at the latest.
