Following what can only be described as being a poorly considered, and delivered message to game developers and players that Google would be shutting their Google Stadia platform down, it’s the developers who are now looking to sweep in and save the day for players whose save data would otherwise be left stranded on the platform that is currently mid death rattle. Stadia will be shutting down in January, meanwhile, it neglected to tell any of the developers who had released games on the platform or were in active development, or had reached the day of release on others. Since the announcement yesterday, developers have spoken out about their surprise by the news, meanwhile, others have launched games that day, only to learn that the game would only have a matter of months of life in it on the platform before it becomes inaccessible to its audience. Now they’re starting to creatively find solutions for players whose save data might be stranded on the Stadia platform currently.
Developers and publishers have begun to come out in droves as they all look to lend their support to players in bringing their save data over to PC or other platforms. IO Interactive, the famed developers behind the Hitman franchise, and now a James Bond 007 game, was amongst the very first to comment publically about their intent to find players a solution, saying, “To all our HITMAN fans on Google Stadia. We hear you – we are looking into ways for you to continue your HITMAN experience on other platforms.” Destiny developer Bungie has also spoken out on their platforms to say “Hello. We just learned about Stadia shutting down and have begun conversations about next steps for our players. We will announce and send out information regarding Destiny 2 Stadia accounts once we have a plan of action.” Big hitters like Ubisoft have also spoken out saying, “While Stadia will shut down on January 18, 2023, we’re happy to share that we’re working to bring the games you own on Stadia to PC through Ubisoft Connect. We’ll have more to share regarding specific details as well as the impact for Ubisoft+ subscribers at a later date.”
Unforuntately there are some players that still don’t have the same level of clarity shared with them about their beloved games, with one report that is doing the rounds that a dedicated Red Dead Redemption 2 fan has put over 6000 hours into the 2018 Rockstar classic and is at risk of losing every second of their progress unless Rockstar can also find a solution.
Google’s poor, but perhaps unsurprising form here is of course disappointing so here’s hoping that with the limited amount of time that the developers and publishers of the various games on Stadia have, that they’re able to concoct a solution for their players as soon as possible.