In the wake of Stadia’s shutdown announcement, Google announced that all customers of the service would be getting refunded in full. How much is your refund going to be?
When Stadia first debuted, it did so exclusively to those who pre-ordered the $129 Founders Edition bundle (plus two “buddies” per Founder). In the nearly three years since then, Stadia had released just shy of 300 games and offered both standalone Stadia Controllers and a bundle that included the Chromecast with Google TV.
Aside from two key exceptions — Stadia Pro subscription costs and hardware purchased at retail stores — Google is refunding players for all Stadia-related purchases. For players who have been with Stadia since the beginning, these are totalling out to be massive refunds, with some clever members of the community humorously referring to them as “Stadia Stimulus Checks.”
So far, Google hasn’t given much indication of when these refunds will begin, only clarifying that the majority of refunds will be completed by mid January. How you’ll actually receive those refunds will also depend on the form(s) of payment you used when making each purchase, with each transaction being returned to the original payment card wherever possible.
Google also hasn’t offered a way to easily know how much your Stadia refund is going to be, but my colleague Andrew Romero has prepared a helpful guide to doing the math on your own. With many Stadia fans now calculating how much their refund is going to be, we wondered how much of a refund 9to5Google readers will be receiving.
Personally, I’ll be getting back around $600 between five Stadia controller purchases and a decent handful of games and DLC. Similarly, my colleague Ben Schoon is expecting to get about $700 in Stadia refunds. Meanwhile, some of Stadia’s content creators have privately told us they’re set to be returned thousands of dollars worth of purchases.
What about you, dear reader? How much will you be getting back? And how do you intend to spend/reinvest your Stadia refund? Let us know down in the comments!
You’re reading 9to5Google — experts who break news about Google and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Google on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel