5 ms·

I hadn't even considered this as a consequence of Stadia shutting down. I naively thought, "Well, everyone is getting refunded for everything they spent, so it'

by least 4y ago

I hadn't even considered this as a consequence of Stadia shutting down. I naively thought, "Well, everyone is getting refunded for everything they spent, so it's fine." Clearly I was wrong. Of course there are folks that have actual game saves that they're heavily invested in on the platform that aren't easily portable. I feel sorry for this person and hope that Google and its partners like Rockstar work together to create solutions to ensure that people's saves and earned content like game unlocks and achievements aren't lost. I hope that any cloud streaming service that still exists learns from this and ensures that player's data is more portable so in the event that they must shut down, this same problem doesn't crop up again.

hotpotamus 4y ago
I saw mention that you could get your save games out via Google Takeout, but I don't know if that's verified or if it would even be in a format that's usable to someone.
- wingerlang 4y ago
  It is mentioned in the article itself, it also implies that it is not useful for multiplayer saves.
- bass3l 4y ago
  Unfortunately you can't, because Red Dead (((Online))) locks your account on the platform you play, his account on Stadia will simply be erased into oblivion.
lake_vincent 4y ago
I think Google's biggest flaw in this regard is their own denial of the pattern of shutting things down. If they just acknowledge that's how things go, they can prepare better off-ramps for people who adopted their product. Doing this to your users is a slap in the face because it shows no gratitude for the fact that those people took a chance on your product. They believed in it, and it's not their fault your project failed. Why should they suffer? But because of Google's hubris, they seem to never admit that failure is an option. Of course they shouldn't say it publicly, but they should have much better internal plans in place for euthanizing products humanely. Failure to do so repeatedly, on a scale like this, reeks of organizational dysfunction, and the absence a moral compass. I was not a Stadia user, but events like this reinforce my motivation to drop all the Google products I possibly can before they drop me.
- ProZsolt 4y ago
  I think it would help with adaptation. I tried my friend's Stadia. One time he come over connected his controller to my Chromecast and it worked amazingly. I was sold. The only reason I didn't buy my own, because I have to pay full price for every game and I was afraid what would happen if they shut down the system. If they would have said something like: If you purchase a game from us you will be able to play it for 5 years if not we pay your money back. They did the same in the end, but loosed out a lot of people like me.
- mattbrewsbytes 4y ago
  Honestly they have the capital to take a position where they publicly state they aren't investing in the product anymore, they'll happily refund people money and work with studios to help users move to other platforms but they'll also keep the lights on for whomever wants to keep using it, unsupported. Why they completely kill and bury entire products very quickly is sort of bizarre for a company their size.
  - burlesona 4y ago
    It’s not healthy to have too many zombie products and staff around your company. Especially at the rate that Google introduces products and then shuts them down, at this point they would have tons staff working on sunsetted products. Besides how incredibly expensive that is, it’s bad for morale. The question is just how to shut things down in a good way. Honestly it seems like Google has done better than they usually do with this one (refunding everything), but it’s never possible to make everyone happy who depended on your service.
- unity1001 4y ago
  > I was not a Stadia user, but events like this reinforce my motivation to drop all the Google products I possibly can before they drop me. Ditto. Im literally considering phasing my personal gmail out to a domain that I own...
  - remedan 4y ago
    I transitioned from a Gmail account that is more than 10 years old that I previously used for everything. It was much less of a pain than I expected. I set up a new inbox with Fastmail on my own domain and set the Gmail to forward everything to the new address. Then I started updating things whenever I received a forwarded message. Over couple of months everything important got gradually sorted out and I cleaned up the rest based on my password manager. Now I only keep the Gmail around because of the Google Play purchases tied to it plus the possibility that some old colleague or acquaintance may have the old address saved. But if Google shuts it down it isn't a big loss. Overall, the benefit of more control definitely outweighs the hassle of switching. I would recommend it.
ghaff 4y ago
>people's saves and earned content like game unlocks and achievements aren't lost. What does that even mean though? A piece of paper or digital equivalent that lists your in-game achievements? That's worth... a piece of paper or digital equivalent. I mostly don't even get the equivalent for lots of things I spent a lot of time on in real life. I guess I have a diploma somewhere though I don't actually know. (That is at least somewhat verifiable without the original piece of paper.) I certainly don't expect "achievements" like that to be transferrable other than in a generalized life experiences sort of way.
avereveard 4y ago
Well stadia ghost recon players had a save wipe not long ago, at least for them service closure will be painless.
recursive_ 4y ago
It's not just the save file in games like this, it's also all of the virtual currencies users paid real world money for. If someone has played 6k hours on RDR2 they likely bought a LOT of in-game currency and other in-game items. A huge potential for monetary and time loss.
sjf 4y ago
Everyone is NOT getting a refund, only purchases through the Google store are being refunded, if bought hardware from Best Buy etc. you are not.

by least 4y ago

hotpotamus 4y ago

I saw mention that you could get your save games out via Google Takeout, but I don't know if that's verified or if it would even be in a format that's usable to someone.

wingerlang 4y ago
It is mentioned in the article itself, it also implies that it is not useful for multiplayer saves.
bass3l 4y ago
Unfortunately you can't, because Red Dead (((Online))) locks your account on the platform you play, his account on Stadia will simply be erased into oblivion.

lake_vincent 4y ago

I think Google's biggest flaw in this regard is their own denial of the pattern of shutting things down. If they just acknowledge that's how things go, they can prepare better off-ramps for people who adopted their product. Doing this to your users is a slap in the face because it shows no gratitude for the fact that those people took a chance on your product. They believed in it, and it's not their fault your project failed. Why should they suffer? But because of Google's hubris, they seem to never admit that failure is an option. Of course they shouldn't say it publicly, but they should have much better internal plans in place for euthanizing products humanely. Failure to do so repeatedly, on a scale like this, reeks of organizational dysfunction, and the absence a moral compass. I was not a Stadia user, but events like this reinforce my motivation to drop all the Google products I possibly can before they drop me.

ProZsolt 4y ago
I think it would help with adaptation. I tried my friend's Stadia. One time he come over connected his controller to my Chromecast and it worked amazingly. I was sold. The only reason I didn't buy my own, because I have to pay full price for every game and I was afraid what would happen if they shut down the system. If they would have said something like: If you purchase a game from us you will be able to play it for 5 years if not we pay your money back. They did the same in the end, but loosed out a lot of people like me.
mattbrewsbytes 4y ago
Honestly they have the capital to take a position where they publicly state they aren't investing in the product anymore, they'll happily refund people money and work with studios to help users move to other platforms but they'll also keep the lights on for whomever wants to keep using it, unsupported. Why they completely kill and bury entire products very quickly is sort of bizarre for a company their size.
- burlesona 4y ago
  It’s not healthy to have too many zombie products and staff around your company. Especially at the rate that Google introduces products and then shuts them down, at this point they would have tons staff working on sunsetted products. Besides how incredibly expensive that is, it’s bad for morale. The question is just how to shut things down in a good way. Honestly it seems like Google has done better than they usually do with this one (refunding everything), but it’s never possible to make everyone happy who depended on your service.
unity1001 4y ago
> I was not a Stadia user, but events like this reinforce my motivation to drop all the Google products I possibly can before they drop me. Ditto. Im literally considering phasing my personal gmail out to a domain that I own...
- remedan 4y ago
  I transitioned from a Gmail account that is more than 10 years old that I previously used for everything. It was much less of a pain than I expected. I set up a new inbox with Fastmail on my own domain and set the Gmail to forward everything to the new address. Then I started updating things whenever I received a forwarded message. Over couple of months everything important got gradually sorted out and I cleaned up the rest based on my password manager. Now I only keep the Gmail around because of the Google Play purchases tied to it plus the possibility that some old colleague or acquaintance may have the old address saved. But if Google shuts it down it isn't a big loss. Overall, the benefit of more control definitely outweighs the hassle of switching. I would recommend it.

ghaff 4y ago

>people's saves and earned content like game unlocks and achievements aren't lost. What does that even mean though? A piece of paper or digital equivalent that lists your in-game achievements? That's worth... a piece of paper or digital equivalent. I mostly don't even get the equivalent for lots of things I spent a lot of time on in real life. I guess I have a diploma somewhere though I don't actually know. (That is at least somewhat verifiable without the original piece of paper.) I certainly don't expect "achievements" like that to be transferrable other than in a generalized life experiences sort of way.

avereveard 4y ago

Well stadia ghost recon players had a save wipe not long ago, at least for them service closure will be painless.

recursive_ 4y ago

It's not just the save file in games like this, it's also all of the virtual currencies users paid real world money for. If someone has played 6k hours on RDR2 they likely bought a LOT of in-game currency and other in-game items. A huge potential for monetary and time loss.

sjf 4y ago

Everyone is NOT getting a refund, only purchases through the Google store are being refunded, if bought hardware from Best Buy etc. you are not.