Google begins the refund process for Stadia hardware purchases

Update (Nov 30, 3:05 pm ET): Information on refunds for people who have purchased the Stadia hardware have started to arrive.

What you need to know

• Stadia is shutting down, with servers set to go offline on January 18.
• Stadia has updated its Help Center to include information for players regarding refunds and gameplay experiences due to its upcoming closure.
• The cloud gaming service has started rolling out refunds for players who have made purchases through the Stadia store.
• Depending on a player's transaction amount through the Stadia store, they will either receive multiple refund confirmations or one that summarizes them all.

Stadia has updated its Help Center information in regard to its closure and how it will go about issuing refunds for purchases.

According to Stadia's updated FAQ, the cloud gaming service will begin rolling out automatic store refunds starting today, November 9, 2022.

Google announced late in September that it would be discontinuing Stadia by 2023. The company reiterated On Wednesday that the majority of refunds made from the Stadia and Google Store should be settled by January 18, 2023. This is also the date that Stadia's servers are expected to go offline. The first push of refunds includes the purchases of Stadia games, add-on content, and subscription fees (excluding Stadia Pro) purchased through the Stadia store.

As Stadia moves forward with refunding, it will notify users to confirm their Stadia store purchases. The important bit here is that players with 20 or fewer transactions through the Stadia store will receive one email per successful refund of each transaction.

Those players with 20 or more transactions on the Staid store will receive one email summarizing all of their successful refunds.

In the event that a refund attempt is unsuccessful, Stadia informs players that it will notify them of the error and gives instructions on how to set up an alternative to receive their refund.

You can visit the Stadia Help Center for full details on how refunds will be handled going forward.

Update

With refunds for games and other purchases made through the Stadia store starting back on November 9, it looks like Google is entering its next phase of Stadia's closing. This next wave involved purchases of Stadia hardware, as shown in a tweet from Max Weinbach with a photo of his email regarding the refund.

The email states, "Due to this wind down, you'll be issued a refund for Stadia hardware purchases made on the Google Store. Your refund will be issued in two weeks. Once it's issued, you'll receive an email confirmation."

Several other users on the social media platform responded with their own pictures or a simple confirmation that they have also received the refund information email from Google, although it seems that others still have yet to receive this email. Stadia users still have a couple of months to get all of their refunds settled before the January 18 cut-off date for the Stadia service.