Google's game streaming platform, Stadia, has looked precarious since losing its first-party game studio just 15 months after its launch But more than a year after that ominous sign, Stadia continues to move forward, adding about 100 games (of mixed quality) each year

Recently, an extremely sketchy rumor suggested that the service has finally run out of steam: in a now-deleted post on Stadia's Facebook group, a person claiming to have inside information said that Google has an "exit plan" for the service, and that the service will be "closed by the end of summer stated that the service would be terminated by "the end of the summer"

"Just a heads up" An old colleague and friend of mine, now one of Google's regional managers, "continues to set the scene for something almost certainly fictitious "Long story short, Google is starting to plan for an exit They didn't give an exact date for the end of service, but said it would be by the end of the summer

Furthermore, the company "will not be transferring the service or servers to another competitor per se, similar to what they did with "Google Play Music" It's the same exit approach and strategy"

This is actually the opposite of what happened with Google Play Music, which was integrated into YouTube Music upon its closure One would think that Google's regional managers would be familiar with the company's recent history

The post was captured for posterity by the Killed By Google Twitter account and can be read below:

In any case, like many viral "friend of a friend" posts on Facebook, it is all bullshit Google directly denied the story (opens in new tab) and mocked it softly via Stadia's social media accounts:

So the stadium is safe for the summer and probably the rest of the year But it would still be unwise to bet on its long-term prospects

Perhaps wisely, Google has not revealed the number of active stadia users, so it is difficult to accurately calculate market share But that doesn't stop people from taking up the challenge

When some numbers were shared in February, one Redditor (opens in new tab) found that of the 860,000 people playing Destiny 2, only 5,390 were playing via Stadia This represents 06% of all players

Coincidentally, or perhaps not, these statistics were shared about a week before it was revealed that Stadia was being "de-prioritized" by Google The Stadia team spends about 20% of its time on Stadia itself, with the rest spent on said to be working on white-label streaming services for third parties such as Peloton, Capcom, and AT&T

Combine this with the lack of first-party exclusives and the mixed quality of the 100 or so games Stadia offers annually, and the service is surviving rather than thriving

This will not last long Without much to attract new subscribers, the numbers can only go one way, and even Google's deep pockets won't last forever; just look at Google Reader, Google Buzz, Google Wave, Google Plus, and the Pixel Slate Google Reader, Google Buzz, Google Wave, Google Plus, and Pixel Slate

Stadia may not be dead by the end of summer 2022, but I wouldn't bet against it being here by fall 2024