As a little bit of recompense, Google has confirmed it will refund users for nearly everything they spent money on. Although, there are some things that won’t fall into that category. No matter how much or how little you spent during your time with the service, you should be getting it all back. Or most of it. Here’s how you can get your refund and what’s included in all that. Stadia shuts down officially on January 18 of 2023. So all of this should be shored up by then. At least that’s what Google says is the plan.
What’s included in the Stadia refund plan
Google says that basically everything people spent money on will be refunded. Save for a few things. This means you’ll be getting your money back for things like games and the like. Purchased a Stadia Founders Edition bundle? You get a refund on it. That is, assuming you bought it from the Google Store. Here’s everything Google confirmed that users can get their money back for. If you bought games or in-game add-ons (micro transactions) through the Stadia Store, then Google will refund you for those purchases. Obviously, if you picked up games through your Pro subscription or by redeeming free games through the use of codes, those aren’t included. You’d have had to exchange money for goods using the Stadia Store. This doesn’t include things like Silver, Destiny 2’s premium currency, if it was purchased elsewhere first. For example, say you had cross-save enabled for Destiny 2 and purchased Silver either on Steam or on console. Then began playing on Stadia instead. You could use that Silver on Stadia, but it wasn’t purchased through the Stadia Store. So that doesn’t count towards the refund. However, any Silver or game expansions you purchased would count. You will also get a refund for any hardware relating to Stadia that was purchased from the Google Store. Including the Stadia Founders Edition bundle, the Stadia Premiere Edition bundle, individual Stadia controllers, and the Play and Watch with Google TV bundle. Unfortunately, Stadia Pro subscription fees are not included in the refunds.
How to ensure your refund
Google hasn’t given out any information really on how the refunds are going to be processed. But we’d bet that Google is simply going to refund any eligible purchases made to the associated card on file with your account. So to that end, we highly suggest that you make sure whatever card you used to make Stadia Store purchases is active. While Google hasn’t officially announced yet when it will start the refund process exactly, it’s highly unlikely the company is going to send out checks. Despite all the online jokes about the incoming Stadia Stimulus as it’s being referred to by some on social media. That being said, Google’s most logical path is just to issue refunds of the payment in the same way they were made. Which means whatever method you used to pay for your games. As for the hardware, refunds should be issued in the same manner. With whatever payment method you used to buy the products on the Google Store.
Curious about the refund amount? Figuring it out is simple
Yesterday we wrote a guide on how to cancel your Stadia Pro subscription. In that guide, there’s a step that tells you where to go to start the process. It’s on that same page where you can calculate every purchase made through the Stadia Store with your chosen payment method. Google kept a record of every purchase with your Stadia account. All you have to do is add it all up. And that should be the money you get back. Remember though, the amount won’t include the Pro membership fees. Though it should include any games you bought even if they were offered at a Pro-specific discount. Do the same thing for your hardware purchases. Go to the Google Store website, look at your order history, and add up all the eligible purchases. Add those together with your Stadia Store purchases and that should be your total amount.
