The news that Google’s Stadia service is closing in January 2023 comes with one silver lining, as the company confirmed game purchases will be fully refunded, and other games and services that are shuttered should follow this example going forward. Stadia was a streaming-only service that offered games for sale, unlike other subscription-based plans like Amazon Luna which offer access to a library of games to stream. There are certainly contributing factors to Google’s decision to fully refund customers that set Stadia apart from other storefronts and online games that have closed. The full refund approach is still the best approach, since it makes consumers more likely to make purchases within the risky space of untried storefronts and new always-online games. Games like Babylon’s Fall should have followed Google’s example, as Google Stadia’s shutting down and refunding all purchases is the most graceful way to handle a gaming failure in the internet age.
Stadia was always a risky proposition, since it largely offered games at full retail price that could never be locally downloaded, only streamed directly through the service. The upside was that Stadia offered top tier graphics without the need to purchase the latest gaming computer, which was particularly useful during the crypto mining-related GPU shortages. Still, the audience for a service like Stadia remained particularly narrow, as it appealed to those who had optimal internet connections, but less than ideal hardware for gaming. The closure of Stadia means consumers will have no way to access the games they bought, and Google is a large, highly visible company. These factors go a long way to explain the decision to refund customers, but refunds should be the norm for the industry, not a pleasant exception to the rule.
Earlier this year Babylon’s Fall had one player on PC, and since that time it has been confirmed the game will be closed early next year. Babylon’s Fall is no longer available for purchase, but for those who did buy the game at its full $60 USD price, they will have no way to play it after the servers are shut down. Stadia launched in November 2019 and will close in January 2023, meaning even early adopters will receive full refunds after playing games they may have had for more than three years. Front launch to closure, Babylon’s Fall will have lasted less than a year, but no refunds have been offered. Beyond this high-profile failure, there are dozens of MMOs and mobile titles funded by microtransactions that have been shut down early, and very few of these offer refunds to players.
As With Stadia, Any Digital Game That Becomes Unavailable Should Be Fully Refunded To The Consumer
One could accurately argue that a massive company like Google can better afford the costs of refunds for Stadia purchases. Bandai Namco had numerous failed mobile Tales games, but fans might have been more willing to take a chance on these titles if they could expect a refund in the event of a closure. Making refunds the norm would benefit both consumers and the future of the industry. Digital gaming has obviously become the norm today, as the consoles that support discs use them more as validation keys than for actual gaming. There are still a few diehard physical game fans who distrust digital game purchases, and the lack of surety is one reason refund policies are important.
Risks are necessary in any market, including video games, but for consumers to risk digital purchases of any kind during these tough times of economic inflation, game makers need to take away some of that uncertainty with clear refund policies upfront. Stadia will close more than three years after launch but will still fully refund consumers who bought games early in the service’s life cycle. The Wii U and 3DS e-store closure hurt game preservation, but prior digital purchases are still available for download, as are those made on the original Wii. Nintendo has stated this may change at some point, but no refunds are likely to be offered, even after purchased games become unavailable to re-download.
If a digital game or service becomes unavailable at any time, purchases reasonably should be fully refunded to the consumer. This would encourage digital storefronts to maintain servers, so players can download prior purchases, and it might also compel always online titles to stick it out a bit longer, since many of these are shut down before they are given time to find their footing. This would certainly impact smaller developers more than industry juggernauts like Google, but the upside means consumers can freely take more risks. Even a time-based guarantee, such as refunds for any service-based game that closes within two years, could be of benefit.
Stadia Showed The Entire Gaming Industry The Right Way To Fail
The Stadia Pro subscription featured some great games, but few players tried the service at all. The same Catch-22 applies to services like Stadia as well as every current MMO and live-service game title. Gaming fans do not want to spend money on something that is likely to be closed after a short period of time. This leads to a game of chicken of sorts, as the industry depends on early adopters to take that risk, and the bulk of consumers wait to see if a product or service is going to have longevity before investing their time and money in it. For games that do not see immediate sales, developers are shutting them down faster than ever, particularly in the live-service and mobile game spaces.
Consumers routinely see money spent on digital purchases evaporating when a game or service is closed, and many gaming products never realize their full potential because of the industry focus on immediate profit. One player may lose 6,000 hours of Red Dead Online play when Stadia shutters, but millions of gaming fans have lost money on transactions made in closed live-service games. The current scenario is the worst of both worlds, for consumers and developers. Refunds can help build consumer trust in digital gaming, which can help repair the industry’s poor reputation in that space, while also encouraging a bit more risk-taking in spending habits.
Video game streaming may or may not be the future, but ideally, the future of gaming failures will follow Google Stadia’s example to a tee. If any digitally purchased game content is going to become unplayable, whether it is because that game cannot be downloaded or streamed, or because the game was fashioned as an always-online title that is going offline, refunds should be mandated. Google did show gaming the way forward, if only in how to handle a closure with grace, and Stadia’s refund handling absolutely needs to become the industry norm going forward.
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