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Product Graveyard
Postmortem2010s

Google Stadia

Cloud gaming platform that promised console-quality streaming from any device. Shut down 3 years after launch despite $200M+ investment.

Launched

November 2019

Discontinued

January 2023

Lifespan

3.2 years

Category

gaming

Cause of Death

Execution Failure

The product failed on its own terms. Bad product-market fit, technical debt, or leadership failure.

What Happened

Stadia had the infrastructure advantage (Google owns the internet backbone) but launched without exclusive games and at a premium price. Streaming latency was solved; the game library never was. Refunded all purchases on shutdown — a rare act of grace.