Google turned many heads when it announced the Stadia in 2019. The tech demo piqued the interest of gamers who weren't exactly keen on forking out big bucks for a gaming PC or a next-gen console.
The technology behind Stadia was indeed impressive and Google had a strong foundation with its cloud servers. However, when it launched, the ambitious plan didn't take off as well as expected.
One thing that Google did not have at the time was a library full of games. It had very little selection to choose from and bigger titles had to be purchased separately before users could access it from the cloud.
Gamers chose to stick with Sony's PlayStation Now and Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass. Both have massive libraries and even older generation titles that players could choose from.
In a blog post announcing the shutdown of Stadia, Phil Harrison, GM of Stadia, stated that Google's approach to the streaming service "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."