Worst Ever: The End Of Stadia - Rerez

Google's Stadia is finished. This is its story.
Support Rerez and get cool stuff! / rereztv
This is the final part of a trilogy on Stadia, check out the other episodes!
Part 1: • Worst Console Launch E...
Part 2: • Worst Ever: Stadia Is ...
0:00 Intro
1:32 How we got here
5:01 Problem 1
6:26 Problem 2
8:30 The Cyberpunk 2077 Surprise
11:18 Problem 3
15:48 Problem 4
17:23 Problem 5
18:52 The beginning of the end
20:33 Stadia's last days
22:12 The final Stadia release (Worm Game)
23:02 Saying goodbye to Stadia library
24:17 OnLive vs Stadia
26:00 Stadia refunds
27:51 The future of video game streaming
28:37 Stadia’s legacy
#Stadia #Google #Gaming #VideoGames #WorstEver #Games #VideoGame #Comedy #BadGames #TheWorstEverSeries #gamingvideos #videogames

[@rerez]

This is the final part of a trilogy on Stadia, check out the other episodes! Part 1: kzbin.info/www/bejne/o2GyinaDoNdglbM Part 2: kzbin.info/www/bejne/h6OckKiOodp_Z7M

[@Therealtintedread69]

Sad life for a streaming service from a multi billion dollar company

[@QuestionMarking]

Stadia died as it lived...weak.

[@Swordslinger-hb1ns]

Wonder how much funding Google pissed away on Stadia? Probably enough money an entire second world country has in back taxes is my guess.

[@STICKOMEDIA]

The ultimate trilogy

[@just_a_stump]

Bungie definitely gave as much notice as they possibly could have that Destiny 2 Stadia servers were shutting down early. They tweeted, brought it up in numerous blog posts, sent emails, and added in-game notices.

[@johnclark926]

The fact that we live in an era of preservation of stuff like the Satelliview, the Xbox & Wii U’s online functionality, and even the ability to emulate the PS3 and Xbox 360, yet we have nothing but footage left of these Stadia exclusives speaks volumes of the dangers of solely relying on servers to host content.

[@puertoricanguy999]

Don't forget the Nintendo Switch cloud version of games.

[@Seriously_Unserious]

This is the main reason why I'm skeptical of platforms with no run local option, where you can buy games, but have no guarantees you can even run those games a month from now. With local hardware, even if the company goes bust, you can keep on playing for as long as you have the hardware and software and can keep them running. Hell, there's people who can still play NES games on the original hardware and cartridges even now, more then 40 years after the console first released. There are even still a handful of preserved or rebuilt Atari 2600s and Intellivisions around and you can still play any functional cartridges from those too, and the earliest of those consoles date back to the late 1970s!

[@klaykid117]

I hope this failure puts a huge dent in the future of video game streaming I hope investors look at this and get super scared every time a company wants to push forward with video game streaming

[@joemck85]

@@puertoricanguy999 The various games you get from NSO and its optional plus thing? As far as I know those all run locally and therefore people with hacked Switches can dump and preserve them. Not that they'd probably want to since it's almost all classic games that ROMs already exist for, running in emulators of varying quality.

[@user-account-not-found]

Nostalgia needs to be recategorized in the DSM as mental illness.

[@alejandrovallencci]

My favourite memory of Stadia was, despite being made by Google, the biggest search engine on the planet, it did not have a search functionality until a year after launch. Ahhhhh, good times

[@purwantiallan5089]

Google Stadia basically like PlayStation Classic.

[@user-ml8jp6eu5f]

Playstation Classic also has tons of weak games.

[@Takato2527]

also, the search function isn't available to all Stadia platform.

[@ItsTheFizz]

I think another major reason that Stadia's "Who needs physical game boxes?!?" pitch didn't work was because the gaming audience was already familiar with the consequences of intangible media thanks to previous controversies like the P.T. demo... and these fears were ultimately proven right when Stadia's slow death began...

[@nathanbraun2067]

people like hardware, that's why the stadia was never gonna succeed

[@alfsleftnut9224]

@@nathanbraun2067 Yup, I want physical game disks when ever I can get them. I don't want som company being able to take my games away.

[@jacobdrake7117]

​@@alfsleftnut9224 but the thing with physical media today when it comes to video games, is it's not guaranteed that it will work in the future. When you purchase a disk you are purchasing licensing rights. They can shut down access to making a game playable even if you have a CD. This is the sad reality of modern times.

[@alfsleftnut9224]

@@jacobdrake7117 Mate, my nes carts from the 80's still work.

[@jacobdrake7117]

@@alfsleftnut9224 true, but I was referring specifically to modern systems with disc drives.

[@AlastorAltruistGaming]

Stadia dying after 4 years & Google ignoring it is like the Internet/social media equivalent of a parent ignoring their toddler choking on a big piece of food & parents not bothering to pay attention.

[@SPac316]

Stadia is all that I fear about an all digital gaming future. You spend money on games you can't keep and it all shuts down and you lose everything.

[@toututu2993]

If that's the case, then they should also ban people of walking and use electric wheelchair instead

[@Chihirolee3]

Well.... they've done that in varying countries due to Covid...

[@lordcegese1385]

@@toututu2993 What?

[@ThePbatemon]

They gave refunds on games bought

[@Valhalla05]

That's why downloading games e.g. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is crucial to this atmosphere.

[@loporina]

Once, I went to apply at a Hollywood video right before they closed, and I noticed they hadn't bothered to restock their gaming consoles or and of their games which was a redflag, and then the guy at the counter handing me the application told me they were closing in like a month. This is effectively how it felt when Google started to deprioritze Stadia.

[@subtledemisefox]

I applied at a KMart online, not knowing that they were shutting that store down (this was 10-15 years ago, so that company's death was really long and drawn out). The application process automatically set up an interview date, but the manager ended up calling me the next day saying "yeah we're gonna go ahead and cancel that interview". The store was empty by the next week lol

[@rickyrosay33977]

That happened to this Office Depot I applied to I was hired one month before that particular store was bought out by staples and was let go so they can bring in staples employees

[@lasskinn474]

well. they never prioritized it. you see, they never even launched it in the markets it would have made sense where people have tv's and phones but don't have consoles because they cost too much (some of which have cheaper and faster internet than a typical american city)

[@BlazeHeartPanther]

Man, Hollywood Video. My mom, sister and me always rented movies from there. Everyone talks about Blockbuster, but no one ever walked about HV.

[@NashTheBlade]

@@BlazeHeartPanther I had an HV very close to where I live, It became an Advanced Auto Parts later and then a Pet Supplies Store...god...GameStop is next and we all know it

[@xard64]

Hopefully Stadia will remain as meme and remind people of the real danger of stream-only gaming. That won't stop companies from drooling over the absolute control though and the cycle will unfortunately repeat...

[@purwantiallan5089]

Kanan Matsuura also love the meme of Google Stadia.

[@video-luver769]

The all-digital, all-streaming future sure looks awesome, doesn't it? Let Stadia be a warning to all gamers: this COULD be the future for us all.

[@rerez]

I think Stadia is now a lesson about how the public reacts to a cloud gaming service that only streams games in general. Companies are now looking at Google thinking "If one of the biggest companies on the planet with near endless resources couldn't make it happen how can we?". Don't forget, LUNA from Amazon is almost the same idea. They fired a bunch of folks recently who worked on the platform. The writing is on the wall.

[@callumbreton8930]

@@Bobspineable the bigger question is will people forgo nearly all physical media or actual ownership of their games

[@christiancinnabars1402]

@@Bobspineable The difference is, those platforms download the game files onto your device. If Steam or Epic or whatever goes down, you can still play 99% of the games you downloaded (IIRC, Steam doesn’t even have game launching capabilities; the game _has_ to come packaged with an .exe that Steam connects to in order to even work). Additionally, if dedicated servers can be remade by especially talented fans, even online games could be played outside of said platforms and outside of their supported lifespan. The fact that Steam’s _online-centric_ games have a better chance of being preserved than Stadia’s _singleplayer_ games speaks volumes of their differences. They are _far_ from the same.

[@lovelydolltime8006]

This is exactly why physical media is more valuable than many people out there seem to think.

[@GTAbestplayer123]

@@Bobspineable On origin I have redeemed the code that came with my copy of The Sims 3 as a backup in case I lose the DVD later on.

[@rossjohnstone4689]

The funny part is, I think most of us saw this coming, and yet we were still surprised when it happened

[@kamiya4700]

Probably it lasted for too long instead of DOA situation

[@UnjustifiedRecs]

the only thing I'm surprised about is that it went on as long as it did

[@whatisfzeroanymore2nd]

It wasn't the shutdown that was confusing to me, it was the way they approached it. Out of nowhere, no warning, "hey uhhh kiss your stuff byebye loll"

[@SergioLeonardoCornejo]

No. Not at all surprised. Just pleased. I actually think it took longer than expected.

[@InFiniTosEntertainment]

Because we were assured that our very specific (and eventually accurate) concerns were all worked out. Surely they wouldn't cancel such a massive undertaking, right? I hope nobody trusts Google to work in the game industry ever again.

[@redjed100]

Kinda surprised that you didn’t mention that Google didn’t bother to tell developers they were discontinuing the service until the rest of us found out. That’s the bigger kick in the nuts to me, because developers make the games. Otherwise, can’t think of much else to add.

[@Talking_Ed]

Yeah but which developer with any intelligence was developing games for Stadia 🤣

[@redjed100]

@@Talking_Ed Tequila Works (“Gylt” and “The Sexy Brutale”) and Typhoon Studio (“Journey to the Savage Planet”), for two examples. And the latter developer had to close its doors after the shutdown of Google’s first-party developers because Phil Harrison lied to them about wiring them money that they needed to stay open. Also, it’s easy to have that outlook you demonstrated then from a consumer perspective, but people aren’t made of stone, and they may have been swayed by Google’s money and Harrison’s lies into going against their gut instincts.

[@Talking_Ed]

@Redjed's Vlogs It's their fault for believing in stadia too, it's a shitty product in concept for any person that knows a tiny bit about technology

[@jbdbibbaerman8071]

@@Talking_Ed while that doesn't excuse google not telling them, I have to agree. It's pretty dumb for anyone to have jumped into stadia

[@mrshmuga9]

@@Talking_Ed Indie studios need backing, and a new platform hungry for exclusives, with the pockets of Google is an enticing proposition. Especially if it didn’t require the cloud to work, they might be able to (depending on the exclusivity contract) able to port it to other platforms. Google pays for development, then spend a bit of money to port it to other platforms.

[@CJMoody]

I think the biggest issue with Stadia, and other streaming game platforms for that matter, is that gamers typically like having access to their games even without Internet.

[@purwantiallan5089]

Agree. PlayStation Classic also got its biggest mistake.

[@blakksheep736]

Agree. In fact, personally, games are often something I play _specifically_ for when I don't have Internet.

[@ScrambledAndBenedict]

Honestly, there's a veritable potluck of issues that all arise from streaming services, all rising from the simple fact that you basically have no control whatsoever over the games you own. How hard would it be for them to pull a Blizzard and ban you from your games for speaking out for or against something in a way they don't like? Or for giving them bad reviews or being critical of their company? What if the game company runs afoul of The Google and gets blacklisted, removing all their games that you "owned"? What happens when EA decides to kill another company for kicks and they happen to have made the latest game you bought? What happens when the "games as a service" malaise inevitably poisons the water and a game company decides they can charge you monthly for the game and boot you off if you can't or won't pay? And, of course, the service will inevitably end no matter how well it does. You, the consumer, basically have the Sword of Damocles dangling above your head the entire time with a service like this. Meanwhile, I have goddamned VIC-20 games that still work.

[@alihejjo1158]

I'm 26 years old. I was lucky/unlucky enough to have witnessed and tested OnLive when it first launched, I remember playing a demo of Assassin's Creed Brotherhood on my POS laptop at the time. I lived in Toronto Canada with a fast internet connection relative to the time period. I had an AWEFUL experience! The moment I heard about Stadia and the hype surrounding it (including my friends) I knew this day was coming. Cloud gaming requires more than a good connection it requires good ping. That is something you can only have if you're lucky enough to live near a server. I think pure cloud gaming service with no local downloads will NEVER work.

[@SNC2319]

“You own nothing and you’ll be happy.” Google Stadia in a nutshell.

[@draculastraphouse7863]

Yeah and look at stadia now, dead and gone like it should be 😎

[@r3duk420]

you could also say the same about xbox cloud,netflix...etc etc...

[@jusiceigi48651]

​@@r3duk420 But at least you have other options to buy games and keep them on xbox and Netflix you paid for a all you can consume buffet. Had stadia done one of those, they would have improved their odds.

[@zmbdog]

Well, minus the happiness.

[@HonkeyKong54]

@@r3duk420 that’s not the same at all because you can buy the games on game pass and get them cheaper if you have the service already. Not only that but Xbox is a stable platform where you can buy/play games from the og Xbox to the newest Gen. Stadia was never a stable platform at all and paying 70 dollars on there was absolutely ridiculous. Game pass cost 15 dollars and you aren’t forced to sign up for it like Stadia. Plus streaming games on the cloud makes sense on a stable platform that your already apart of with library’s already in place.

[@DJ-sr4kk]

I was hoping this video would come someday. Now we finally have it, the last video of the Rerez Stadia Trilogy.

[@mavadelo]

As this was about a Google product, we all knew it was just a matter of time.

[@saturnotaku]

The only thing I wish they would have mentioned was the Death Stranding sequel that was supposed to be a Stadia exclusive.

[@virgilepiaux150]

@Hj Asmara The Stadilogy

[@mariokarter13]

Say what you want about the Ouya, but at least they failed on a smaller scale. Imagine failing this badly when you're the biggest company in the world.

[@lorddiethorn]

@@mavadelo way back when it before it dropped I was like the only way this will work is if it’s a Netflix like service and you have the highest speed internet. In my area is probably around 100 to 200 dollars a month. So you good to high speed internet at fifty dollars you were spending 600 dollars plus a year. So you would stop using stadia because it was much money

[@pupaepedorra]

The fact that cloud gaming has been averted, at least for a time, is good for everybody.

[@purwantiallan5089]

Yep. Cloud gaming is never doomed.

[@adora_was_taken]

gamepass is trying hard to change that

[@squishyblanket]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Shane's totally rad shirt. Who gives a f*ck about Stadia dying? We all saw this coming. That shirt, however, is everything great about the 90s, in shirt form. It is as nostalgic as it is striking. I need to know where I can get one for myself. *I NEED THAT SHIRT!*

[@joserodrigo4991]

I don't know but I really need to know where to buy it

[@DonVigaDeFierro]

Yeah, I dig the math textbook cover style.

[@squishyblanket]

@@DonVigaDeFierro I was thinking old school 90s arcade carpet, but now that you mention it, yes, I had notebooks like this in school! I'm sure there is a word for this style of pattern but I don't know what it is. Brings me back to a time when they made electronics with translucent colored plastic so that you can see the circuitry underneath. I distinctly remember artwork of whales floating through the cosmos as well. The greatest pain is not being able to go back there.

[@DonVigaDeFierro]

@@squishyblanket Oh, yeah, you are right! I knew the squiggles reminded of something I've also seen before, and that was it! It also reminds me of some VHS covers and many motion graphics... A very common design trend. I'd be surprised if it didn't have a name. And I know that feel as well. One day you're young and carefree, full of nothing but dreams, and the next day your body cracks like a glowstick and yet refuses to glow, and all you have left is memories...

[@RedWing777]

The bit that looks like a bowtie is what makes it for me

[@PXAbstraction]

In the dictionary under "Failing Upwards", there's a picture of Phil Harrison. I have no idea how this guy keeps getting better jobs in the industry with the trail of epic failures behind him.

[@MaXiUmImPuLsE]

It’s like Hollywood one of the writers for Velma has 3 failed shows but keeps getting work

[@jacksonteller3973]

he did resurrect the Xbox One after Don Mattrick screwed it up.

[@PXAbstraction]

@@jacksonteller3973 Phil Spencer did that. Harrison helped lead that nightmare launch with Mattrick.

[@jacksonteller3973]

@@PXAbstraction ah my mistake, I always get those two mixed up.

[@ddjsoyenby]

the power of dirt.........he has dirt on every tech giant in the industry :D

[@LouisWritingSomethingCrazy]

The most surprising thing to me is that it lasted this long.

[@toututu2993]

It never stood up to begin with. Stadia is just a parody of Onlive

[@waltercomunello121]

the Jaguar lasted for a bit less than 3 years, and it's still remembered today. even in "worst video game of all times" KZbin videos. then, Sega made the same mistake of Atari by creating an overengineered video game system (the Saturn). it lived for about 5 years, and it's still fondly remembered (and played). even later, Sony created the PS3. overengineered and out of the box piece of tech that developers took years to get a grasp of. people still play it, mod it, fix it. Stadia will become close to nothing and disappear into oblivion in a few months.

[@ddjsoyenby]

i thought it was d3@d already.

[@Manic_Panic]

@@waltercomunello121 At the end of the day, the PS3 was hardly a failure, it just has a "dramatic" history. It still went on to sell more than the Xbox 360, barely (87.4 million). Today it is very fondly remembered and those early launch models are very seeked after due to having full backwards compatibility. The Dreamcast, Vita, Gamecube or Wii U are better examples of failures.

[@rerez]

After they closed the studios I expected them to shut the whole thing down the next week. I was shocked to see it continue afterwards. That's why we waited with our final video. I didn't want to release a video claiming Stadia was over until we knew 100% for sure that it was.

[@THEGINYUFORCESJEICE]

the one true love joke about the dreamcast genuinely made me a little sad it deserved so so much better, one of the best consoles ever made despite only having two years on the market. truly incredible and so many of those early xbox exclusives like panzer dragoon orta and JSRF (and the loads of other stuff sega put on the xbox around this time) would've been on it. :(

[@Chaos89P]

I would call the Dreamcast a box full of squandered potential, but I hear its library is still growing, albeit unofficially.

[@mikusmom]

@Chaos89P it's growing unofficially? That's honestly impressive that people still want to develop games for an old hardware.

[@DoctorFuu]

@@mikusmom for starters, all the catalog of the Atomiswave arcade machine since the hardware was based on Naomi II. some powerful stuff they ported to it

[@purwantiallan5089]

​@@Chaos89Ptrue. Dreamcast games are still GOATED tho.

[@Will_Negs]

You can't just talk about the depressing reality of Stadia and its unavoidable end just to end the video with a clip like that. But I'm glad you did.

[@purwantiallan5089]

Amin.

[@DeathAngel-ft8oz]

I feel bad for all the developers who poured blood, sweat, and tears into working on stuff for Stadia, and then they were told all that effort was going poof.

[@sodalangstson9438]

That kind of their own fault they need to think try to do some research about deal they sign up to

[@ramrodbldm9876]

@@sodalangstson9438 obviously it's their fault you clown

[@TAGibby]

To be fair, they really should’ve quit once Google started making them pour their bodily fluids into the servers.

[@mitsune13]

they were paid and working with google. i think they can live with it

[@SergioLeonardoCornejo]

I don't. I think cloud gaming is a bad thing. I'm a PC gamer, so mods and unofficial patches are part of the things I value. People like me will never stream games.

[@10191927]

Google Stadia, truly one of the gaming services that ever….didn’t.

[@cujoedaman]

Yes. It truly was a service. It was the service ever.

[@First-Last_name]

A funeral service

[@10191927]

@@First-Last_name - Should Stadia even get the dignity of a funeral and burial?

[@First-Last_name]

@@10191927 well it was dead on arrival 🤷‍♂️

[@10191927]

@@First-Last_name - 🤔 This is true, well I guess we can let the Stadia users do it, it’s only fitting.

[@hitmangfx7162]

Thank you for making me feel even better about my physical library of older games.

[@purwantiallan5089]

Yep. Especially PlayStation 1 and SNES.😢

[@sinjin8576]

Stadia failing is the single biggest victory for gamers in decades.

[@purwantiallan5089]

Agree. Stadia is like PlayStation Classic. Absolutely BAD.

[@damarfadlan9251]

Well Coco Hayashi ever played Stadia in January 2020.

[@pbague]

As a Mac user for university, it makes me sad tbh GeForce now is there but it doesn’t work half as well, streaming wise, and it requires a subscription

[@jonathanhoush2384]

Rerez Team, thank you. I believe that, by doing these videos, you have shown more dedication to the Stadia product than Google ever did.

[@purwantiallan5089]

RIP STADIA.

[@mipmipmipmipmip]

Rerez, you were probably the only Stadia Pro user, and they figured you wouldn't start a class action lawsuit by yourself.

[@zarktyark7312]

I absolutely loved the Mr. Google part. So much charm for the sad state of the Stadia

[@purwantiallan5089]

Agree. Stadia is as awful as PlayStation Classic and Virtual Boy.😢

[@lurientheenjoyer6711]

I always saw stadia as the textbook definition of a Flash in the pan. Google tried to break into the game streaming market with that huge fuzz they did back in E3 2019, adds everywhere, their own event, the whole nine yards. But they quite literally dropped the ball instantaneously. Even in early 2020 it looked like Google just got bored and pulled out of the project once they realized that running a service like that is, in fact, very, very, hard and time consuming. It is just like every other project that's rotting away at the Google cemetery: an idea they thought would change the world (and make them a lot of money), but turned out to have been poorly thought out and harder than expected, so they abandoned it. It's so sad to see such a project die like this. Even tho we all knew it would be a dumpster fire the day it was announced, it undoubtedly had SOME potential. And seeing that potential squandered in such a record time... It's depressing.

[@dragons_advocate]

There also was the story of the game studio exec that lost his whole Google account - including all business mails, contacts and schedules - WHILE his studio was working on a Stadia title. Last I heard, he didn't receive ANY help from Google support.

[@ReynLynxPSI]

That wasn't just any game studio exec, that was Redigit, the creator of Terraria. He got his accounts back, but his frustration with dealing with Google led to him cancelling the Stadia port of the game.

[@swaggerdagger8976]

@@ReynLynxPSI bro was (rightfully) angry 💀

[@dragons_advocate]

@ReynLynxPSI Yeah, that story. I never played Terraria, hence why it didn't stick I guess. Glad to hear he got his access back at the end. And also that he did not waste his time with Stadia any further

[@romancatholicgameing]

Goodbye Stadia You will never be forgotten (mostly because you failed so hard it's hard to forget you)

[@Austinredstoner]

This sucks that stadia shuts down. It was the only platform that offers cloud gaming for free. Now that it's shut down now I'm forced to pay for a subscription and most likely I'll subscribe to Xbox game pass ultimate since it's best at this point now that stadia is not here.

[@Kieora]

Im sorry, what is Stadia?

[@somnia3423]

@@Austinredstoner you still had to pay monthly for stadia lol

[@SpideyfanX]

@@Austinredstoner "Offers Cloud Gaming for Free" Nice joke. Ya still had to pay full price for the games and the Pro subscription

[@notrelatedbyblood7957]

I wouldn’t count on that I for one forgot Stadia periodically even while it was alive.

[@entropynme]

You guys are criminally under-subbed for sure, keep up those production values Additionally I will say that I had a mixed though mostly positive experience with Stadia. Until recently I was in the navy and moved from California, to South Carolina, Hawaii (which actually had really good internet for some reason), and finally Utah. In all of these places that I lived I was able to play the latest Hitman and Cyberpunk pretty smoothly with my only issue being a hiccup every 3 minutes or so. As soon as I bought an ethernet adapter though any of those latency or hiccup problems I had went away entirely. Not great but overall not bad, particularly in my situation where I didn't want the hassle to hauling a gaming setup with me every time I had a pcs move (because NAVSUP sucks massively and could never get movers for me in time) so I just had the last of the intel macbook pros in which case Stadia worked pretty well for me. Now that I'm no longer in the military I immediately built a new gaming rig and am obviously much better off and happier. Though I do kinda wish something truly functional on hotel wifi was around for when I travel for my new job. Oh well, guess I'll just get a steam deck instead

[@damarfadlan9251]

Stadia is a negative for me.

[@TARINunit9]

I run IT for a commercial moving company, we help employees move from one office building to another. There were a lot of moves around Google last year, a lot of the desks being cleaned out had Stadia controllers. The desks were still empty weeks afterward...

[@UnjustifiedRecs]

The wildest thing for me is that it was barely an improvement on OnLive and that's nearly 10 years old, and that was better value.

[@NonsensicalSpudz]

and you had sony playstation now, geforce now, shadow pc etc all of which are solid and two of them you get a PC to mess with oh and also xbox game pass

[@mariokarter13]

Xbox Game Pass is literally everything Stadia was supposed to be.

[@MiisterShane]

The OnLive menu was super cool too, being able to see all the games being played in real time felt space age

[@UnjustifiedRecs]

@@MiisterShane yeah I enjoyed that too. For it's time it was impressive, I played a few games through to the end on a not great internet connection. It wasn't perfect and it was longer ago than I thought, it was 13 years ago!!

[@lorddiethorn]

@@UnjustifiedRecs it’s didn’t die so much, it got married and changed it’s name to psnow

[@MortalAnonymous]

The irony is that I was just rewatching the Stadia videos yesterday for the heck of it. Just revisiting some legendary crap. I had no idea this was happening.

[@BewareTheLilyOfTheValley]

I was about to as well, lol! I figured the close of Stadia must be getting nearer, so I'd have some fun rewatching the other two videos. I was not expecting to be hit with the final video of the trilogy instead.

[@MortalAnonymous]

@@BewareTheLilyOfTheValley That's great. Couldn't be more perfect timing, yeah? XD

[@hemme100]

@@BewareTheLilyOfTheValley The trilogy of a platform and not getting support from the company or naysayers it’s a vicious cycle the fans of stadia really wanted it to be successful but you can’t turn a hard-core Fanbase from another platform to leave there local hardware for convenience

[@gracekim25]

I rewatch their videos ALOT😂

[@MortalAnonymous]

@@gracekim25 Guilty of that myself, haha. I just love that I happen to have chosen to rewatch THOSE videos, and next day boom. New update and it's dead. XD

[@ScrambledAndBenedict]

That's actually the sad thing about streaming gaming in general, and it's one of the biggest reasons I'm thankful this crashed and burned. It will never be a matter of "if" the service will go down and you'd lose all your games and progress on them: it's a matter of "when" all along.

[@SoldMySoul45]

Sony further proves this by removing licenses for media purchased on their platform even years prior. They take what you paid for and you do not get a refund. It really sucks.

[@feathero3]

I remember On Live! I had a friend who was obsessed with it and swore it would be the future of gaming... Then they and no one else I knew ever never talked about it again seemingly overnight.

[@yege121]

I had On Live. It sucked. Luckily I only bought one game, Deus Ex: human revolution, on it for $1 bc there was a promotion going on.

[@jacksonteller3973]

This reminds me of Quibi, a service that should've been huge during COVID but flopped majorly, and that whole thing of splitting episodes into chunks wasn't done for creative reasons, it was done to get around paying the actors more.

[@ReynLynxPSI]

Stadia and Quibi also share "having obnoxious ads that are a turnoff to the product" in common as well

[@user-pj9vp4fg2i]

Completely forgot about quibi until reading this😭

[@insanemindset2667]

@@ReynLynxPSI Obnoxious garbage is just advertising in general. In fact, the only ad I actively liked and sought out... was a Fraser Edwards' sick-ass banjo solo. XD It wasn't even a real ad. It was video masquerading as an ad and I was so close to skipping it until I heard the badass solo continue for more than 10 seconds without mention of a brand name.

[@Cr4z3d]

@@insanemindset2667 Some of the only ads I actually like are the ones for Dr. Squatch, some of them are genuinely funny. Groove Life is ok too I guess.

[@Gloryosky]

At least Roku bought Quibi's original-content library, so there's a clear successor in terms of who owns current show rights - at least, for the shows that didn't move to other platforms. That won't likely happen with Stadia.

[@rpgaholic8202]

The ending.... the final few seconds.... perfection.

[@TheLakabanzaichrg]

Now i understand why people say they spit their coffee

[@QF_Dan72]

a fitting end

[@SirLightsOut99]

Another sad thing about the death of stadia that I don't think has been brought up yet is that there were a few exclusive games that as far as I know never made it off of the platform. The moment Google nuked the Stadia service, they killed those games too, and because rights issues are tricky there's a good chance they may never make it onto steam or something like that. Doesn't matter if the games are good or bad, game preservation is important, and those games could very well be lost forever now.

[@7grand-dad900]

As someone who lives in New Jersey, I have never been so shocked, appalled, and offended by something so absolutely true (19:18) [sad to see stadia go cause these videos on it were hysterical]

[@viscountrainbows2857]

Does this mean the ghosts of all the money wasted on Stadia may now be exorcised?

[@maikt904]

a small portion of that ghosts will still be there, the stadia pro ghosts :D edit: come to think of it google repaying the costumers the ghosts might get bigger, sure the costumer gets refunds but google has to pay it big time

[@BewareTheLilyOfTheValley]

@@maikt904 *customer :)

[@RaycrowX]

Even if Stadia worked for you, it didn’t work for everyone which means it was destined to die. I think that illustrates that even if you love a product, others need to love it too for it to continue

[@evandaymon8303]

That’s problem people have this tribal issue. They want to not be seen as bad or they bought wrong thing (buyer’s remorse) They will deny everything till it eventually happens

[@harleyspeedthrust4013]

there were so many problems with stadia. the first problem was that it was a google project. from the moment it was launched, it was doomed to die simply for this reason. google never keeps a project alive for long.

[@toututu2993]

Not to mention subscription on top of buying games is more expensive than full Nintendo Switch service

[@evandaymon8303]

@@toututu2993 Not to mention you dont even own the games you buy on stedia. Your paying for a license to play them not own them. Making them completely worthless and stupid. When you have a subscription

[@brunoslybruno]

@@evandaymon8303 its really dumb because, being a smart buyer is being able to admit 'okay this was a bad choice' and learn from it - we all are bound to make mistakes, but denying they were a mistake is just asinine then again, i also see people that play games defend dumb flaws just because its a game they like, so its a huge issue even outside of just buying - liking something can mean it *Has* to be perfect for some people, and they'll fight anyone who disagrees

[@namehere4922]

The most surprising thing about the Stadia shutdown is that it didn’t happen sooner, I genuinely thought this thing bit the dust a while ago

[@TheShakermaker0]

Stadia shuts down officially and Google cuts 12,000 jobs. Oof --- You guys deserve more subs, I love this content and delivery

[@danandtab7463]

Google had already gotten a reputation for starting new things then cancelling them without warning a little while later, so I was suspicious of this. When I heard it was subscription + paying full price for games, I definitely had no interest. The Stadia subreddit did indeed show a lot of "worked for me" folks, doing things like playing AAA games on their cellphones in a waiting room, and I say good for them.

[@rerez]

I spoke to plenty of people that told me about their positive experiences with Stadia. However I spoke to a lot more who had negative experiences with it. The final time I used Stadia I was on a 3 Gigabit fibre Internet connection. It still had issues with latency and frame drops. Google's design of Stadia could never promise guaranteed perfect gaming for everyone. That was it's major problem.

[@Bishop228]

To be fair Bungie did announce & give warnings of when they were taking the game off of Stadia, & how to transfer/save your characters weeks ahead of the shutdown. So it wasn’t a surprise or out of the blue. One of the few things you got wrong in the video. Good stuff as usual.

[@Tatwinus]

Yeah, they even had huge warnings ingame several weeks in a row.

[@kallmannkallmann]

Yh but if you dont play for a few weeks u get kinda fked. Not everyone play all their games every other week.

[@Pyroja]

@@kallmannkallmann A few weeks? Bungie was telling people to turn on Cross Save so they wouldn't lose their characters back in October (10/27 TWAB). December 8th TWAB, they announced that Destiny 2 on Stadia would be going offline a week before Stadia shuts down *specifically* to make sure players knew they needed to turn on Cross Save before January 18th. They put this message in game, they put it on their website, they put it in tweets, they pretty much shouted it from the rooftops. You didn't have a few weeks, you had a few months, and Bungie did everything they could to make sure players knew.

[@shinji391]

The full cost of Destiny 2 is $454.89. Google Stadia is $129. A full Destiny 2 experience is enough to buy THREE AND A HALF STADIAS WITH 3 DOLLARS LEFT OVER.

[@gracekim25]

It’s possible they didn’t warn EVERYONE

[@Schlaym]

I'm surprised you had any hopes for it at all. Even when it was first announced, I immediately thought about the internet connection of most people and could absolutely not imagine that the world is ready for this.

[@DaveGamesVT]

Now let's hope companies FINALLY learn the lesson that a cloud-only game streaming service is not only a stupid idea, but won't work.

[@gman7497]

We are at least a decade away from having the infrastructure in the US that would allow for problem free streaming from a cloud server. It's just not a service that everyone could use, and in the case of Stadia, or wasn't better than any of the other portable alternatives.

[@gracekim25]

Or at least won’t work on it’s own 😅

[@gracekim25]

@@gman7497 can you stop saying just the US please? The rest of the world exists too!😅

[@ashkitt7719]

@@gracekim25 That and I doubt the US will have problem-free streaming from a cloud server because the US and quality infrastructure don't mix.

[@ReactigatorDile]

It’s so interesting to see how the tone changes with each video in this series, from confusion, to frustration, to disappointment. All accounting for what we knew and had experienced at the time. One thing that’s been consistent to me the entire time was that it seemed Google got into the gaming industry because they saw it as a lucrative market. I don’t think they really had a passion for games which shows in their lack of understanding on how to build their platform.

[@dallinferguson994]

What they underestimated was that it's only lucrative if you're somewhat competent as a game company. Because being a TECH company is a whole different beast.

[@evandaymon8303]

And google has a history of wasting money on projects and canning them when they dont pay back money they spent on in first place right away

[@brandonsanchez8197]

The bigger a company is at handling their own take at cloud gaming, the harder their product will fall if they don't do things right. Some might say that Stadia was truly dead on arrival.

[@contytub]

Not only that. since launch, stadia was worse than similar existing sistems that were already known as poor themselves with no way to improve because it wasn't up to them... network bandwidth, stability and actually availability killed it. most of us are amazed that they pushed so hard and some people actually got on board

[@hemme100]

Or no one wanted to support it when they found out what it was or if it worked

[@macgeek2004]

Anyone else ever try Amazon Luna?

[@BarkleyBCooltimes]

I tried out the Stadia at PAX2022 and it lagged for me, at their demo booth, which was running off of a local server. I knew it wasn't going to last after only a few minutes of use.

[@MrDemonsushiGuy]

YES!!! I WAS HOPING FOR A PART 3 FROM THE STADIA Series!!! THANK YOU, REREZ!!!

[@orderofmagnitude-TPATP]

Jesus rerez/shane, you must of worked bloody quick to get this one out. Good job man.

[@FullMetalPanicNL]

Nah they announced the death a while ago. In the beginning he says they had the video ready to launch as soon as the service officially died so they had some time to get it ready.

[@orderofmagnitude-TPATP]

@@FullMetalPanicNL ahh I see

[@PointsofData]

@@orderofmagnitude-TPATP it was the end of September Stadia announced it's closure, so yeah

[@MisterCasket]

Same with big celebrity deaths, the next day (or even same day) news stations will have a clipshow and memorial things. They have those already lying around waiting for someone to die, just need to update the cause of death and that's it.

[@FullMetalPanicNL]

I would like to add that this doesn't mean the people at Rerez don't work hard generally. Most full time KZbinrs do.

[@TheHarDeOne]

I actually remember Onlive! Haven't heard of it in years and for good reason, but I remember seeing a single passing commercial for it. And then nothing. Now I know why that was. No wonder Google didn't learn from it.

[@jacksonteller3973]

I remember when TotalBiscuit did a WTF is video on it.

[@romanbukins6527]

I remember seeing the same ad 2-3 times for it.

[@XiaoFury]

I remember it vaguely....then I wondered what happened to it.

[@10191927]

If Google themselves even heard of Onlive, I wouldn’t fault them if they haven’t heard of it since Onlive was very obscure.

[@lorddiethorn]

I have the new improve version the ps plus because Sony bought the text behind it

[@PhoenixDwn.]

@Rerez Genuinely love to see your face, been on the wagon for just shy of a decade now, thought we were losing you for a second tbh. Your videos are always well fleshed out, refreshing to watch and learn from, entertaining, and the great amounts of effort you put into them does not go unnoticed either. Stay happy and healthy 🙏🏼🫰🏼

[@fe3bal]

Really good wrap up on this 3 parter. One thing I would have liked you to mention, was OnLives patents getting snapped up by Sony in 2015, and that gave rise to PS Now... Which itself had to move into a download service as the streaming just didn't cut it... And now, that's Ps Plus Extra and premium!

[@daverapp]

It never occurred to me just how good Stadia potentially had it. They had a running start before the lockins started and the big console competition couldn't get units out due to chip shortages. When we all got stuck at home Stadia SHOULD have exploded in popularity. What happened?

[@mipmipmipmipmip]

Google employees don't care what they're doing & don't know why they're doing anything, apart from working to promotion to a different team.

[@gamechip06]

They didn't push the product to the masses of desperate people that would have easily joined. They just kind of hesitated and then faded.

[@lorddiethorn]

Google being google. The key problem was it was for dads and older people who didn’t really play game anymore and it needed to be a Netflix like service. I had friends who didn’t play video games anymore buy the older Xbox with like three games because they were stuck at home lol

[@AmEv7fam]

Google 's complacency, as others have said. Same way Google+ failed

[@WhatAHorribleNight]

One reason: Marketing was very poor. I am absolutely serious when I say that the Rerez videos slamming Stadia are the only "ads" I can remember seeing for the platform. 😅 If there were others, they were not memorable and I cannot even recall seeing them. If this was true on general, then how was the console supposed to take off if people didn't even know about it?

[@primalconvoy]

The only people surprised were the people who had never heard of Stadia until today.

[@ThommyofThenn]

New viewer and this was a fun video. That bit at the end about on live was so damning. Really amazing how little we learn from mistakes despite how we should all be familiar with the quote you cited. Even if you're not familiar with the exact quote you still know the concept of learning from the past to improve the future. I guess game streaming will get there eventually kinda like how VR is finally becoming acceptable

[@LazyCatIsFat]

I remember seeing ads for Stadia before it launched and I knew it was going to be a disaster.

[@PixelHazlitt]

You’ve advertised Stadia better than Google could, without a doubt. And you hated it.

[@hemme100]

Free views or content to bank off of

[@Thelegendarydoormat]

Rip stadia. You won’t be missed, except for the one guy still in the loading screens.

[@Talking_Ed]

Some say he is still having delay to this day

[@chadbailey30]

This set up had SOOO much potential. I was really excited when I first heard of this system. Google really screwed this up!

[@fayezfawzi3255]

Can't wait for your next episode!

[@jasonfultz7637]

They did it. Thanks guys for listening to us and making this a trilogy. You rock Rerez!

[@BirchMonkey857]

To quote my favourite Dragon Ball movie character's Abridged version: "Well, I sure hope somebody picks up that phone... because I fucking _called it!"_

[@storm_filter]

longer videos plz, cheers! i love this channel

[@mrtwinky2007]

i've rewatched and watched again many times, and I've ran out of rerez to watch, ... missing you loads

[@Avigorus]

Part of me can't help but think that they missed an obvious opportunity: a game where your internet connection woes were integrated into the in-game lore in some way with immersive responses to re-establishing connection after a drop. Granted, it would've been on-the-nose and either insulting or tongue-in-cheek, but still lol

[@Snicketbar]

I remember calling this right after its announcement. I'm actually surprised it lasted as long as it did. Also, I seriously thought OnLive was a fever dream. Since I could remember the commercials, but not what it was called.

[@TeruteruBozusama]

Same to both. I have had bad enough internet to be skeptical of stadia from the beginning, where I live it can suddenly disappear for a couple hours, and the other I mixed up with Ouya... 😅

[@joshstucki4349]

My experience in corporate-whatever is that bad ideas get executed because there is someone in leadership who is either 1) "never wrong" or 2) purposefully sabotages projects (like making people pay for games individually instead of allowing the obvious Netflix-style service) they don't like but the naive person who had the initial good allowed their idea to be changed (sabotaged) by said person in leadership and then, of course, blamed for its inevitable failure.

[@midnightmawile5535]

OMG YES!! I wanted this video so much! Thank you!

[@eduardogomez4275]

What a wild ride! When Stadia was released, I didn't even know it existed until I watched the first video you made. And then the second part came out, I thought "what if it becomes a trilogy?". And here we are. At least something good came out of this service, this wild trilogy. Great work on all three videos!

[@purwantiallan5089]

Definitely. Stadia only has 1 big potential.

[@leepikdude]

The Rerez team put more time and effort into hating Stadia than google while making it.

[@hemme100]

Ikr

[@weregretohio7728]

You would think a company like Google would have half an idea as to how to market a product like this, but... And it's not even close to the first time they have bungled something so badly.

[@TheDMan2003]

I remember this service. I knew from the first ad that it would eventually die. I didn’t get it at first, since my brain could not understand what they were trying to do. I actually said “we can’t do what we want,” in a review for one of the ads (yeah, that was a feature once upon a time) when their catchphrase was “We can do what we want” in KZbin ads. And I got really annoyed with this when there was an outright spam amount of ads for this thing on KZbin. I never spent my money on this dumpster fire, and Google was trying to say that I was being an idiot.

[@sqentontheslime1967]

The only thing I knew about stadia was that Destiny 2 told me it was shutting down so many times I was scared *My game* was somehow on a stadia and worried about losing my account for it. Playing a streamed game like that sounds vaguely interesting, but I don't think I would've had much use for it even if I was given it for free.

[@cthandrils]

I've never felt somber after watching one of these episodes before. Dang I feel so sorry for all the Stadia and game devs who works hard to get their stuff working on a slowly sinking ship.

[@wakeup2theNWO]

Why? I don't understand why games have some sort of above the rest crowd probably just people who don't understand life and all their lives revolve around get ready for the cringe word gaming, they got paid to do work and then it shut down and they'll just go somewhere else to work 😭🥹🥺😣 waaaaa my heart bleeds where can I send them my savings those poor poor souls how can life be this cruel, there's shops out there like in USA that put their blood sweat tears and savings into keeping store's that have been in the family for generations going only to get robbed so much they can't go on any longer now that's sad

[@Blaziken36]

@@wakeup2theNWOwhat are you even saying

[@EmilinkoHoward]

@@wakeup2theNWO Unironic schizoposter

[@wakeup2theNWO]

@@Blaziken36 What are you not understanding if you read the comment it explains it all, people feeling like they lost a loved one over some people finding a new job 🤷

[@wolfetteplays8894]

@@wakeup2theNWO learn to use grammar, we don’t speak prole

[@pillowcasecorner7519]

The problem with Stadia was that people just didn't support it!!1!1! Because apparently, customers are just supposed to do that. Inject enough money and support until it turns better, which always happens.

[@shoaibakhtar6222]

This Channel Should have a million Subs by now, Love the Content ☺️☺️☺️

[@STICKOMEDIA]

The stadia lore ends here... it was an interesting short era to say the least but at least we got some awesome Rerez videos out of it

[@Toastybees]

Giving full refunds and releasing the drivers for the controller are the best they could possibly do, the most anyone has lost now is any time they put into the stadia versions of games. If a service is going to go under this is the best way to do it.

[@rerez]

I agree with the refunds partially, since I lost access to my Pro library of games and never saw a cent back from that. As of Jan 22nd, the bluetooth drivers they released for the controllers are broken. The controller fails to re-connect with devices a lot and the triggers are not working properly. I hope they update them.

[@enilenis]

Great overview. Enjoyed this video. Thanks for putting it together. I knew about Stadia, but never used it. Learned a ton of stuff here.

[@swagzagoon2596]

"Wherever you are, Stadia will let you play the latest games." That line will forever haunt him for the rest of his life.

[@tartsonawire]

"Stadia tripped right out of the gate" So...Stadia is the Shockmaster of the gaming world. If you get that, we're friends for life.

[@ExtremeWreck]

Don't get the reference, but I'd compare it to what happened with Gen Zed.

[@thesfdoctor3603]

I told you! Oh man! He fell flat on his arse! He fell flat on his fucking arse! **RANDOM SID VICIOUS SCREAMS**

[@MarvinPowell1]

@Extreme Wreck 2000 It's a wrestling/Botchamania reference. 1990s wrestler wearing a Stormtrooper helmet is supposed to burst through a wall, but trips through it, falls on his belly, and his helmet falls off. One of the clumsiest debuts of all time, much like Stadia.

[@ari-dynamicarchive]

I love pro-wrestling. :D

[@mistyrains939]

​@Marvin Powell hey now it wasn't a stormtrooper helmet...it was a shiny BEDAZZLED stormtrooper helmet

[@flubberinni]

I was around 10-12 years old when I heard about onLive so yes Rerez, I do remember. I think the ad campaigns were focussed on being able to play games in SuPeR ULtRa HD or something.

[@daviddamasceno6063]

Crazy to think any company would attempt such a thing back then.

[@DerpyPercy]

I had a blast watching this small trilogy you guys made on Stadia, it's honestly a shame the service didn't last very long. I remember when Stadia was announced, I was actually interested in trying out after a while because I didn't have a dedicated console to play any games on. When I heard about the connection issues throughout Stadia's lifespan, I decided not to try it in the end.

[@purwantiallan5089]

Google Stadia for me is like prototyped version of PlayStation Classic.

[@twilightofthegods33]

Great video! Content of this quality used to be a regular occurrence on this channel a number of years ago. Things just seemed to slow down so much since then. Perhaps this video is a sign the good times are back?

[@Azrakhul.]

Didn't know Stadia existed until I stumbled upon Rerez's Channel about Stadia's launch, which I seen yesterday. Basically, only knew of Stadia's existence for 24 hours to find out now it's dead... LOL. Guess I didn't miss much...

[@mckstellar1005]

If I had a penny for every time stadia was covered on rerez I'd have 3 pennies which isn't alot but it's strange that it happened more then once.

[@zeroshinkai957]

Lol.

[@Froggievilleus]

And you would have made more of a profit than Google did on Stadia.

[@paperclip6377]

No its not?

[@gracekim25]

@@paperclip6377 who are you talking to?!

[@gracekim25]

@@Froggievilleus your logic is nonexistent

[@stephensimko7887]

Love your videos! Keep up the great work!!

[@gullpayne]

Loved this awesome video as usual 👍😁

[@TheGlitched64]

We've all been here from the birth to the death of this thing. What a ride we have all shared together

[@jordanhazelwood2546]

We're coming up on the 12th birthday of my favorite failed console, the PS Vita. I'm still buying games for it today, and I'm sure I'll still be playing it for years to come. I'm sorry that Stadia fans will never be able to say the same.

[@andrewbryce2707]

First time I have come across the channel and gotta say this video had me dying in laughter. Loved the presentation and humor. Great video dude!

[@theotherjared9824]

In a world where Microsoft has barely enough confidence in cloud gaming to toss it out as a free bonus on game pass, Stadia had no chance as a standalone product.

[@penedrador]

Stadia died (or never took off) because the overpaid execs were deaf to its potential customers. "A netflix for games" was the demand and expectation of the potential userbase. Easy to understand and easy to implement. But no. They wanted to die on the hill of "subscribe but still buy".

[@mrshmuga9]

It could just be that a subscription cost wouldn’t be enough (or would have to charge too high). But at that point, just don’t do the service. They probably got far enough and thought “well, too late, let’s try it anyway because maybe we’ll be the first on the scene to hit it big”. They probably thought being “first” was enough.

[@luckyducky7819]

@@mrshmuga9 Google is (probably) rich enough to float a Netflix for Games service at a loss for a while and see what kind of money it'll rake in after a few years. That's what I'd try to do if I owned google.

[@TimothyCollins]

For me... I saw my first ad for Stadia and jumped backward from the TV. Those things were fever nightmares. I was never going to spend any money on Stadia because of those ads... they were scary.

[@nathanbraun2067]

you should look up launch ps3 ads. those will give you nightmares

[@TimothyCollins]

@@nathanbraun2067 Agreed. And to this day I never owned a PS3 either. I mean, it's cool to try new stuff in ads but when your entire Ad strategy is based on being as creepy as you can be, don't be surprised when it turns some people off.

[@jordanwhite352]

I'm so old that when I first saw the stadia ads into the room reminded me of the terrible SEGA Saturn ads that they aired in the US. And I was like...why would you emulate these?? Anyone tell Google that The Saturn was a failure in the US? 🤣

[@FirebreathXIII]

The ending to the video was 1000% perfection.