Stadia-Aus: Google upsets customers with refunds

The cloud gaming service Google Stadia was launched in November 2019 with great ambitions. Originally, Google wanted to reach billions of people with Stadia. On September 29, 2022, Stadia CEO Phil Harrisson announced that Stadia would be discontinued. The service will close its doors on January 18th, 2023, so that many players will lose their saves. After all, all customers get their money back if they bought games in the Stadia Store. However, Google annoys a number of customers with the refunds started in the meantime.

Some Stadia users only get credit for the Play Store

As several players report, the money has been paid back since November 9th. Who, however, credit cards from Google Play used to buy games for cloud gaming was badly surprised. Google then simply reimburses the amount with credit for the Play Store. Unfortunately, you can only buy Android games, apps, audio books, films and series there, but no PC games. For example, if you bought Cyberpunk 2077 for 60 euros in the Stadia Store and paid 15 euros via Play Store prepaid card and 45 euros via credit card, you will receive a prepaid card for the Play Store worth 60 euros.

Stadia users only get this money back in this way if they buy a game in full via third-party payment providers, such as PayPal or via credit card. According to Google, the refund process is fully automated. Since 2022, customers with the § 327i in the Civil Code the possibility to claim damages if the digital product is defective within one year from delivery. It does not apply if the consumer’s digital environment was not compatible with the technical requirements of the product. Google is still silent on how many Stadia users there were.

In contrast to the competition, with Google Stadia you have to buy all games in the Stadia Store and at full price. With Nvidia Geforce Now you can stream your PC games that you have already bought on Steam and approved for streaming by the publisher and with Microsoft’s Xbox Cloud Gaming you pay a subscription fee and can stream all games optimized for streaming at no extra cost. Not only with Google Stadia, but also with Steam, customers do not have ownership rights to purchased PC games, but only a right of access or use. This is how Steam officially names its users as subscribers.

Also worth reading: Google Stadia: No more game streaming from January, partial refund announced

Google Stadia refund collection:

• Google started refunds for Google Stadia on November 9th. However, some Stadia users are not enthusiastic about this.
• If you have used some or all of your Google Play credit cards to make a purchase on the Stadia Store, you will only be refunded the purchase price in the form of Play Store credit. Unfortunately, you can only buy Android games, apps, audio books, films and series there, but no PC games.
• Stadia users only get this money back in this way if they buy a game in full via third-party payment providers, such as PayPal or via credit card.
• The cloud gaming service Google Stadia will be discontinued on January 18, 2023.

Sources: golemGoogle, Federal Ministry of Justice