Google has announced that it is killing its video game cloud streaming service Stadia. For the countries that had access to it in the first place, the internet search giant said that it will be refunding hardware, game and DLC purchases. But that doesn’t save the hours gamers may have put into games on the service. For what it is worth, some publishers are doing what they can to salvage gamers’ save files from the service.
According to VGC, there are at least three publishers who are in talks with Google to get Stadia saves transferred out. One is Ubisoft, the biggest name in the list, which announced that it is working to bring Stadia saves to PC via its Connect PC launcher. The publisher also says that it will be sharing more details for Ubisoft Plus subscribers at a later date.
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.
— Ubisoft Support (@UbisoftSupport) September 30, 2022
Second on the list is Bungie which has posted on its support forums that it has “begun conversations about next steps” for Stadia players. As with Ubisoft, said next steps will be announced when the developer has a plan of action, though it’s anyone’s guess when that will be. It’s much the same story for Hitman reboot trilogy developer IO Interactive. A similar note has been posted via the developer’s official Twitter account.
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. pic.twitter.com/7VZsDQAMkC
— IO Interactive (@IOInteractive) September 30, 2022
Of the three, Ubisoft probably has the most to worry about, since it has a pretty large library on Google Stadia. Next to that would probably be IO Interactive, since it has a trilogy to work with. As for Bungie, it’s tempting to say that it has the easiest time of the three, since it only has to deal with Destiny 2 and it is a live service. But for affected players, as long as they can get their progress transferred before 18 January 2023, that’s probably all that matters.
(Source: Ubisoft, Destiny Bulletin, IO Interactive via VGC)
